Loening OL
The Loening OL was an American amphibious aircraft from 1923, which was manufactured by the Loening Aircraft Engineering. It has been used in large quantities in the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and the United States Army Air Corps as a reconnaissance aircraft.
The Loening OL first flew in 1923., You had a huge central float and two small side float. As amphibian they had a retractable landing gear and a tailwheel. When engine was a Liberty V12 -A ( V -1650 ) with 420 hp (308 kW ) are used. There is a whole series of variants were built, mostly differing only in the engine and smaller wing changes. The last variant was the OL -9, it has already been built along with the Keystone Aircraft Corporation. 1927, had the manufacturer, together with the founder Grover Loening with Keystone.
The U.S. Army ordered 1924-1928 45 machines, which were used mainly in Hawaii and the Philippines. Fifteen of these machines were of type OA -1A, this was the designation for the U.S. Army. A total of 165 units were built. The U.S. Navy turned over 1925 three machines for weather observation to Cuba. The U.S. Coast Guard received three machines of type OL -5 in October 1926.
The OA -1A later formed the basis for a very similar aircraft, the Grumman Duck J2F.
Pan American Goodwill Tour 1926/1927
After the great success through the world tour with the Douglas DWC, the decision was a goodwill tour of Mexico, Central and South America. On December 21, 1926 launched five OA -1A San Antonio ( Texas). The tour led through 25 countries over 35.2 thousand kilometers.
The route went through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. We went through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia to Valdivia in Chile. The group flew over the Andes to Bahia Blanca in Argentina. The return flight went over Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, French Guiana, Venezuela to the West Indies. On May 2, 1927, the aircraft landed in Washington, DC.
Museum aircraft
According to the Pan American Goodwill Tour 1927, a machine that passed the San Francisco, the Smithsonian Institute and 1964/65 completely restored. She is now at the USAF Museum at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton (Ohio ).