For three nebulae that have early-WN Wolf-Rayet exciting stars, NGC 6888, WR
8 and Abell 48, we have obtained Herschel-PACS line scans of the [N III] 57 um
and [O III] 88 micron lines, along with the 122 and 205 micron lines of [N II].
From the former two lines we have derived N2+/O2+ abundance ratios,
equal to the overall N/O ratio under a wide range of nebular conditions. We
find that all of the nebulae observed possess significant nitrogen enrichment,
with derived N/O ratios greater than solar. The two nebulae with massive
Wolf-Rayet exciting stars, NGC 6888 and WR8 are found to have N/O ratios that
are enhanced by factors of 7 - 10 relative to the solar N/O ratio, consistent
with an origin as material ejected just before the onset of the Wolf-Rayet
phase. The other nebula, Abell 48, has recently been reclassified as a member
of the rare class of three planetary nebulae that have early-WN central stars
and are not of Peimbert Type I. We derive a nebular N/O ratio for it that is a
factor of 4 enhanced relative to solar and slightly above the range of N/O
values that have been measured for the other three members of its [WN]
planetary nebula class.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS accepte
