No, no floats replacing spats, this is too much inside heresy, stop, I apologize. I beg your pardon, moderator...
But the Loughead design bureau faced another problem, in early 1918: the general had sighed "hey, you crazy lunatics, I don't want a 4-engined observer, nor even a twin-engined observer, the requirement is for a SINGLE-ENGINED observer!". My grand-grand-father (the rich of the family, that has gone to America) smiled: "yes, the L-38 can do it, almost unchanged! With maybe a little asymmetry, while the German Gotha succeeded last year in this field with their Go.VI, and we, American engineers, are even better! Proudly!"... My grand-grand-father died in a psychiatric asylum (like me), I don't know why. I like these designs (stamped July 4th 1918), especially the 2½-plane...