Author Topic: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38  (Read 26287 times)

Offline Tophe

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Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« on: August 08, 2014, 12:30:07 AM »
I thought I would not participate in this group, as WW1 is before aerodynamism that I like (related to high speed).
Though, in my archives, I found the Lockheed P-38 forefather, dated 1918: the Loughhead L-38...
I swear it is 100% true (in my mind, at least)

Offline ChernayaAkula

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2014, 01:03:54 AM »
That looks cool!  :D
Cheers,
Moritz

"The appropriate response to reality is to go insane!"

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2014, 02:38:57 AM »
Thanks!
Well, in fact the proposal was a triple one: standard L-38; high-speed (reduced span) L-38B, high-maneuverability (triplane) L-38C.
Here are the L-38B and L-38C:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2014, 02:51:18 AM »
 :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2014, 06:24:50 AM »
If it is not true, it should have been, mon ami!

I really like how you changed the engines just a little to "un-modernize" them.

Someone should build this. Seriously!

Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2014, 09:12:24 AM »
 :)  the bi-plane looks better than the tripes - engines look like Franklin (or Lycoming) horiz-opposed types. Spats could do with v-struts to the center fuselage pod.

Will a COW-gun be fitted ??

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #6 on: August 08, 2014, 11:00:25 AM »
Thanks for the struts-to-pod suggestion! :) more solid this way
(With my time machine, I went back in 1918 and corrected the designs:)

But there will be no gun ever, sorry: I am a naive pacifist and these are just observation unarmed aircraft.

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2014, 11:45:40 PM »
these are just observation unarmed aircraft.

Of course, in 1918 there was not much automatism so the pilot could hardly be observer at the same time, thus two-seat versions L-38A2, L-38B2, L-38C2:

Offline Alvis 3.1

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2014, 11:53:06 PM »
That's awesome Tophe!
:)

Alvis 3.1

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2014, 12:04:29 AM »
Thanks Alvis 3.1415929... (by the way, do you know that 355/113 is pi, almost?)

Well, as I remember, the second crew member was mostly for gun operation on WW1 aircraft (camera was already available for observation), while my L-38s have no gun at all, even for defensive care... so a VERY high speed was needed, to escape from hostile fighters, and that gave the very powerful L-38D4:

Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2014, 12:52:34 AM »
That is super clever and creative!! Begs to be built!  :-*
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Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2014, 02:03:30 AM »
Thanks a lot!

Well, this is not the end of this Loughead WW1 tale: after the L-38D4 was designed the similar L-38E4 (but this one had almost no relation to my dear P-38, alas):

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2014, 02:34:12 AM »
My what lovely spats you have there!
 :-* :-* :-*
The absolute last word in aerodynamics!

Mon ami, this to me confirms without a doubt that you are a genius.

I will be giving these pictures a very close look...
 :-* :-* :-*
Brian da Basher

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2014, 08:23:45 AM »
Thanks a lot, Brian!

I will be giving these pictures a very close look...
Feel free to contest/suggest improvements/corrections, this will still enrich the collection...

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2014, 09:01:22 AM »
Of course, Brian, "removing spats" would not be an "improvement" for you (but accute "heresy"), so I try this change by myself, into the marine version L-38E4F, and this one brings me back to the P-38 family, with its lateral booms (which is curing the non-twin-boom "heresy" on my own side)...:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #15 on: August 09, 2014, 10:01:23 AM »
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...

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #16 on: August 09, 2014, 01:45:06 PM »
Of course, in case there was a heavy engine and light pilot, the L-38C1 could have been mounted opposite, the third little wing providing lift where best needed:

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #17 on: August 10, 2014, 04:14:49 AM »
It's interesting to me how that third little wing somehow adds balance.

You have an artist's eye, mon ami!

Brian da Basher

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2014, 12:25:03 AM »
Thanks! while the pilots, generals and troops did prefer an engineer than an artist, as designer... ;)

Now, knowing the engines of that time were not big, there was room behind for a pilot or observer, thus the L-38F1 & F2:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2014, 12:51:52 AM »
There were not only artists working in the Loughead design bureau, but aso kids... The young funny little Vincent proposed the silly idea of a lifting fuselage! Everyone laughed a lot, of course, and the L-38G was designed this way as a joke, an entertainment. Years later, the little Vincent, grown adult, became famous, his last name was Burnelli...



Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #20 on: August 12, 2014, 01:29:20 AM »
No, no, the tale above is not true at all! In 1918, Vincent Burnelli was not a kid but a young man, aged 23... And the Burnelli-Loughead L-38G (above), L-38G1 and L-38G2 (below) were "serious designs", even if they failed to get orders:

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #21 on: August 14, 2014, 02:39:24 AM »
I really like the version with the Burnelli fuselage, mon ami!

It's always a treat to see what direction your ideas take!

Brian da Basher

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #22 on: August 14, 2014, 12:17:46 PM »
Thanks a lot, Brian!

Well, let us be serious now. I think I should mention the Long-Range observers LR-38A and B, dated 1918 but November (probably before the peace on Nov.11th but I am not 100% sure...). One was a different triplane, and the other was a quadriplane (with tandem sets of wings). I am not sure if such designs were ever tried somewhere else, apart of the CAproni Noviplano with 9 wings.

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #23 on: August 14, 2014, 10:41:57 PM »
Ups, I forgot the 4th wheel/spat, sorry... (that was not playing with dangerous asymmetry, here, just a copy-paste I forgot):

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #24 on: August 15, 2014, 12:39:22 AM »
The Loughead-Dunne L-38H2 & L-38H1 were flying wings, still in 1918:

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #25 on: August 15, 2014, 06:22:32 AM »
I really like the tailless one on the right!

Looks more like a "should've-been" than a what-if!

Brian da Basher

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #26 on: August 15, 2014, 03:09:12 PM »
Thanks!

And the genius topic of Master Brian http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4672.0 opened new fields in my mind…
As the Great War entered its fifth decade,


More precisely, this provides me with 2 different explanations to classify the VERY MYSTERIOUS (half-modern) Loughead L-338A “DATED 1918”:

Either:
- WW1 was of course dated 1914-1918 only but President Wilson has decided in 1917, while declaring war to Germany, that “this will be a very long war, but I guarantee it will last no more than 2 years, I swear it, on the Bible; besides (for astronomic reasons) the duration of a year is no more 365 days but 3,650 days, all right” (when this new system was cancelled, modern designs of the very-long-1918 were reclassified 1936 – the war dogmas of biplane layout and opened cockpit were still effective of course, even if engines and aerodynamism had improved a lot).
- In the normal 1918 (365-days long), prospective designs of foreseen future (science-fiction) involved huge engines, light alloys, and very streamlined futuristic lines…

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #27 on: August 15, 2014, 10:09:50 PM »
Back on the serious side of 1918, on this very planet here...
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!"...

There was another domain where US engineers were feeling jealous of German ones ("we could have invented that ourselves!"): Zwillings, like the Fokker M9... This gave birth to the L-38Z and L-38Z2, yes:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #28 on: August 16, 2014, 01:40:20 AM »
Despite my jokes about asymmetric and zwilling German designs, I swear I am not lacking respect towards US engineers! Even years before our dear Elmayerle get his diploma, US engineers were at the top in aircraft engineering, and the WW1-years proof of this is the L-38W patent of 1918, that inspired the Caproni Noviplano flown in 1921:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #29 on: August 16, 2014, 01:49:54 AM »
(ups, there were so many propellers and pylons, I made a wrong order in my slanting view, sorry, here is the corrected drawing:)

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #30 on: August 16, 2014, 12:55:35 PM »
the war dogmas of biplane layout and

Wrong, Mr Tophe! As soon as 1913, the (French) Deperdussin Monoplane racer had broken into pieces the biplane dogma, and US engineers could do even better! Though, building a monoplane solid enbough was a challenge, but with struts it worked. Anyway, this is not exactly the "L-38 of 1918" story, but a preliminary introduction: the Loughead L-37 of 1917 (versions A, B, C, all built in thousands copies, as everyone knows)...

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #31 on: August 16, 2014, 01:19:58 PM »
the L-38W patent of 1918, that inspired the Caproni Noviplano flown in 1921
Of course, this 8-engined 9-winged monter did not came from an alcoolic delirium but from a logical sane evolution: the 6-engined 6-winged YL-38W and the (almost normal) 4-engined 3-winged XL-38W:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #32 on: August 16, 2014, 07:50:32 PM »
Thanks to Acree's http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4673.0 , I have found Looghead derivatives of the Gallaudet D-4:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #33 on: August 17, 2014, 01:54:09 AM »
Of course, the use of a canard foreplane was considered too (L-38K1, K2, K3):

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #34 on: August 17, 2014, 03:47:54 AM »
1918 was not prehistory... the Loughead designers even tried the rare O-wing on the L-38O1, O2, O3:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #35 on: August 17, 2014, 06:54:47 PM »
Of course, the use of a canard foreplane was considered too (L-38K1, K2, K3):
Of course also, the light tubes of that time would have broken, several tubes were needed to hold the foreplane and front spats, thus L-38K1', L-38K2', L-38K3' below:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #36 on: August 17, 2014, 10:16:25 PM »
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.
You know: I was joking (in fact I am not dead yet, it seems), and... the asymmetric L-38s proved usefully that the central position of the pilot was not mandatory (this was decades before the RP-38 testbed for the Twin-Mustang piloting), and... so, the very best observer, ever, was then designed: L-38X External Observer:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #37 on: August 17, 2014, 10:31:49 PM »
Of course, years before the Bv-141, US engineers had discovered that the very best observer should be asymmetric even if this is difficult to admit for purchasers... The L-38X2 and X3 were designed though:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #38 on: August 19, 2014, 01:11:38 AM »
Thanks to Silver Fox's topic http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4645.0 about a Fokker gyroplane, here are the American equivalent: AGL-38A, B, C:

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #39 on: August 19, 2014, 03:57:12 AM »
No one can take a concept to the 'nth degree and definitely not with your incredible panache, mon ami!

Love the biplane version with the canard and engine on top!

Brian da Basher

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #40 on: August 23, 2014, 01:26:27 AM »
Thanks Brian!

Now I am going to reveal a secret... According to Wikipedia, the first rocket plane ever was German and dated 1928: this is all wrong, it was American and dated 1918: Loughead L-38R8, with 8 fireworks' rockets, fired one by one to increase range (160 seconds as grand total!). Flown with success, but the army was not interested, for unknown reasons.

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #41 on: August 23, 2014, 12:38:49 PM »
The Loughead design bureau of 1918 was brainstorming hardly...
After the rejection of the L-38R8, they designed the L-38R14 with enhanced range: 280 seconds of thrust! (but rejected as well)
And as the test pilots of the rocket R8 model complained about too much wind in the hair, they designed the L-38EC Enclosed Canopy, but the generals were not ready yet to pay for that

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #42 on: August 24, 2014, 01:46:54 AM »
Still in 1918 and decades before the Snecma Coléoptère, the brilliant Loughead team designed the Annular-wing L-38N (with the technology available at that time, it was not completely round but close to it, with the help of many struts, maybe too many...):

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #43 on: August 24, 2014, 02:58:08 AM »
My son disagreed about the previous design (I had shown him the Coleoptere to proove such aircraft did exist), and he said "the wing on your drawing does not extend backward enough", which I translate into "there is not enough wing area and the weight centering is wrong". And colouring it, he added a nose propeller.

Well, I looked again into the Loughead archives and... this was all completely right, absolutely, historically: this was the L-38N2:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #44 on: August 24, 2014, 03:21:23 AM »
I like the L-38N. :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #45 on: August 27, 2014, 12:43:56 AM »
the war dogmas of biplane layout and

Wrong, Mr Tophe! As soon as 1913, the (French) Deperdussin Monoplane racer had broken into pieces the biplane dogma, and US engineers could do even better! Though, building a monoplane solid enbough was a challenge, but with struts it worked. Anyway, this is not exactly the "L-38 of 1918" story, but a preliminary introduction: the Loughead L-37 of 1917 (versions A, B, C, all built in thousands copies, as everyone knows)...

There was also a "modern" L-38M monoplane in 1918:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #46 on: September 02, 2014, 02:34:45 AM »
Yes, the Custer Channel Wing was developped in the 1920s, long after WW1, but the idea was Loughead's and dated 1918, with the L-38CW:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #47 on: September 02, 2014, 11:54:14 AM »
Still in 1918, the 2-seat Channel Wing L-38CW2 featured many improvements:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #48 on: September 02, 2014, 12:20:06 PM »
While the L-38CW and CW2 were rejected by the Army ("this cannot work!"), the Navy ordered 999 copies of the seaplane L-38CW3 (but they were cancelled when the war finished - even the prototype was not completed):
« Last Edit: September 02, 2014, 12:26:11 PM by Tophe »

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #49 on: September 02, 2014, 05:51:48 PM »
Putting it up on floats is truly inspired, Tophe!

I especially like how you inverted the traditional biplane layout by putting the shorter wing on top. Put this in 1920's Italian markings and say it's a Savoia-Marchetti and few would doubt it was real.

You always have some wonderful, outside-the-box thinking, mon ami!

Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #50 on: September 03, 2014, 12:47:40 PM »
Thanks a lot, Brian!
Well, you know, far from Channel Wing and Asymmetric Aircraft revolutions, pilots of that time (and their generals, and their taxpayers) wanted very classical aircraft... And even the rather-classical L-38 and L-38B twin-engined ones were disliked, because... if one engine fails, there is a tremendous asymmetry to fight against... Loughead engineers of course found the solution: bringing the engines close to one another, removing the pilot's pod, and as it was refused laterally (because of asymmetric piloting), it was raised above on the upper wing.
"Safe in the sky" was the selling-word, alas the test pilot fell from the giant ladder (to climb into the cockpit up there) and broke his leg. Thus the prototype was scrapped, in November 1918.

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #51 on: September 03, 2014, 09:59:39 PM »
Of course the push-pull version here had even less asymmetry if one engine fails (and against the dangerous-ladder argument discussing why-oh-why having the pilot so high with the engines normal below, instead of opposite, the union of mechanicians claimed that preserving the health of mechanicians is not less important than pilots' health...).

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #52 on: September 04, 2014, 11:22:45 AM »
The argument mentionned above can be better understood if you know the triplane version of this push-pull, still with no asymmetry if ever some engine(s) fail(s):

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #53 on: September 04, 2014, 11:57:35 AM »
On the seaplane versions L-38SP1/2/3, the pilot above was more usual:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #54 on: September 05, 2014, 01:19:46 AM »
Put this in 1920's Italian markings and say it's a Savoia-Marchetti and few would doubt it was real.
Yes, and the famous Savoia S-55 of 1924, itself, was "truly" a derivative of the Loughead L-38S-55 of 1918:

Offline Tophe

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #55 on: October 08, 2014, 01:46:05 AM »
a tandem wing L-38 with high fuselage:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #56 on: October 20, 2014, 02:30:06 AM »
Already in 1918, the Lightning was tried with radial engines:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #57 on: October 21, 2014, 11:43:22 AM »
A Lightning with radial engines?! What a heresy!

No, seriously: last night I took my time machine and went into 1918 to explain the many advantages of a turbojet. I was convincing and the Loughead designers worked on it (into the asymmetric L-38TJ project below):

Alas their conclusion was it cannot work, and I was sent to the psychiatric asylum. But fortunately the alarm clok rang and I came back here, safe!

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #58 on: October 22, 2014, 03:01:56 AM »
You have such an excellent eye, Tophe and this one works for me because the jet engine is so well balanced by the three pods (fuel tanks?) on the left wing. I especially like that you kept the spats! Few things add to the fast look of a jet like the most streamlined landing gear ever developed!

Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #59 on: October 25, 2014, 10:08:44 PM »
Thanks Brian!
Well, your insisting about spats seems to mean you know the Real source of WW1 end (without Germany being invaded), so I could show the Loughead involvement in it.
In August 1918, the German and Allied diplomats agreed on a better solution than war mutual mass murders: like the antic Greek cities finsished wars without many dead ones, by the match between the 2 champions (1 in each camp), "let us make a technologic beauty contest = the most beautiful spats will won the war". And the West-American SP-99SP (whose pictures are still top secret) won the contest in the USA then the international final, so the Allied won the war, accepted on November 11 by Germany, whose Fokker SP-XXI had failed. The SP-38SP was simply the Loughead entry in the US contest:

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #60 on: October 25, 2014, 10:39:10 PM »
Of course, the picture above was just art fantasy without technical details, and the top part of the spats showed clearly an asymmetry that was not there on the prototype (below):

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #61 on: October 25, 2014, 11:06:14 PM »
Of course, the picture above was just art fantasy without technical details, and the top part of the spats showed clearly an asymmetry that was not there on the prototype (below):



This one is cute as a button, Tophe and the absolute apotheosis of a spatted sport plane!

I may have to try my hand at a 3D version one day, mon ami!

Thank you for sharing your wonderfully imaginative concepts!

Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #62 on: October 26, 2014, 02:13:32 PM »
With 1/32 wheels/spats on a 1/72 airplane? hehehe... ;) Thanks for pardoning my delirium.

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #63 on: October 26, 2014, 08:02:33 PM »
Back to seriousness: the Loughead L-38RP featured remote propellers for a good technical reason: alas I don't know which one (but the Wright Flyer I was this way, there must be a good reason...).

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #64 on: October 27, 2014, 07:53:43 AM »
Well, one reason for that design could be better streamlining. It might be a plus to put the drag-inducing engines in that aerodynamic fuselage. There was a German W.W. I bomber of similar design, but I can't recall the name.

I really like the thinking that went into this beauty, Tophe!

Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #65 on: October 27, 2014, 10:25:48 AM »
Thanks for your help trying to understand this design.
I try also myself:
- this is a one-engine airplane (minimum weight, central weight for good maneuverability), thus there should be 2 normal ways: nose propeller and pusher propeller
- nose propeller is rejected because the front view would be bad (and it is complicated for military "sending-flowers-forward" through the rotating propeller);
- pusher propeller is rejected because bailing out would be lethal (and rear defense: impossible)
So the logical answer is: remote propeller(s)...
(But I still don't understand why the civilian Wright Flyer had lateral propellers from its central engine...)

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #66 on: October 28, 2014, 12:38:23 AM »
Still in 1918, the Loughead engineers found another way to answer the same requirements: putting the engine on top of a pylon: free nose, safe bailing out, no lateral engine(s)... Did other engineers think the same? I don't remember.

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #67 on: October 28, 2014, 05:42:48 AM »
I always thought the Wright Flyer was designed that way to counter-act torque, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will know.

I really like this new design, Tophe! I think it'd make a good amphibian.

Brian da Basher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #68 on: October 28, 2014, 06:43:39 AM »
Very unique
"They know you can do anything, So the question is, what don't you do?"

-David Fincher

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #69 on: November 08, 2014, 06:28:35 PM »
Thanks!
And as this GB is close to its end, let me add maybe the last L-38s of 1918: the rhomboidal-wing L-38RH-1 & 2, with the L-38CAN:

PS. CAN was standing for CANard but it was bought by CANada...

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Re: Loughead L-38: forefather of the P-38
« Reply #70 on: November 09, 2014, 04:30:32 AM »
That rhomboidal wing is a mathematician's delight, Tophe!

Thank you for sharing so many wonderfully imaginative design concepts with us during this GB!

Brian da Basher