Lanzius L II

L II
Role Fighter
National origin United States
Manufacturer Lanzius Aircraft Co, New York NY.
Designer George Lanzius
Number built 6
Developed from Lanzius L I (Variable Speed Aeroplane)

The Lanzius L II was a single-seat fighter designed and built in the United States around 1918. The sole prototype is believed to have been tested at McCook Field.

Design and development

George Lanzius, an immigrant from Holland, founded the Lanzius Aircraft Company in New York, to develop his inventions for variable-camber and variable-incidence wings. Lanzius first designed and built a two-seat aircraft under a US Signal Corps contract in 1917, named the Lanzius Variable Speed Aeroplane (aka L I). His second aircraft, the L II, was a single-seater derived from the L I also featuring the cable operated variable-camber and incidence.[1]

The two-bay wings had external trusses over the upper main-spars and under the lower main spars and the variable-camber and incidence were operated by cables and pulleys, with incidence variable from 0° to +15°. Power was supplied by a variety of engines but principally by a 350 hp (260 kW) Packard 1A-1237 V-12 in-line water-cooled engine.[2] During a test flight the engine failed and the L II crashed. Meanwhile, in April 1918, four similar aircraft were ordered, powered by 400 hp (300 kW) Liberty L-12 water-cooled V-12 engines. The first of these was destroyed after a structural failure in flight killed Lanzius test pilot L.E. Holt. The United States Army Air Service (USAS) rejected the remaining three aircraft and returned them to Lanzius.[1]

Variants

Lanzius Variable Speed Aeroplane (1917)
(L I) A two-seater built to a US Signal Corps contract in 1917, incorporating Lanzius' variable camber and incidence systemand powered by a 140 hp (100 kW) Duesenberg 4-cylinder water-cooled inline engine.[3]
Lanzius L II
A prototype single-seater fighting scout, powered by a 350 hp (260 kW) Packard 1A-1237 V-12 water-cooled engine.[2][3]
Lanzuius Variable Speed Aeroplane (1918)
Four aircraft similar to the L II, but powered by 400 hp (300 kW) Liberty L-12 engines.[1]

Specifications (L II)

Data from The Complete Book of Fighters [4][3]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 7.62 m (25 ft 0 in)
  • Wingspan: 11.58 m (38 ft 0 in)
  • Gross weight: 544 kg (1,200 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Packard 1A-1237 V-12 water-cooled in-line piston engine, 260 kW (350 hp)

Performance

References

  1. 1 2 3 Casari, Bob. "US WW I failed fighter program". Let Let Let – Warplanes. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 Neal, Robert J. "STATISTICS OF ALL THE AERO ENGINES OF PACKARD" (pdf). AEHS. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Eckland, K.O. "American airplanes: La - Li". aerofiles.com. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Green, William; Swanborough, Gordon (1994). The Complete Book of Fighters. London: Salamander. p. 325. ISBN 1-85833-777-1.
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