The Loening XS2L was an American biplane scout
amphibian developed by
Keystone-Loening
Keystone Aircraft Corporation was an early American airplane manufacturer.
History
Headquartered in Bristol, Pennsylvania, the company was formed as "Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp" in 1920 by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland, but its name was quickly ...
(then a subsidiary of
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...
), for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
during the early 1930s.
Design and development
In the early 1930s the Navy became interested in exploring amphibious capabilities for its cruiser-based observation and scout
floatplanes to remedy the problem of periodically having to rig the
wheeled undercarriage and then revert to floats. After some experiments, installing retractable landing gear into the existing types' floats was ruled out due to degradation in performance. A purpose-built amphibian, however, was viewed as a potentially better solution.
Three companies –
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
, Keystone-Loening and
Sikorsky - submitted aircraft to meet the Navy's requirements, with their designs designated
XSG-1, XS2L-1 and
XSS-1 respectively. The Loening's entry was a conventional
biplane that featured flying boat hull, retractable main landing gear and a single
R-985 Wasp Junior engine in a
nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...
on the upper wing. The pilot and observer were seated in an enclosed cockpit that also encompassed some of the interplane struts, resulting in a curiously shaped glazing area.
The XS2L-1 was delivered for official trials in February 1933. Although it showed marginally better performance than its rivals, it still offered no considerable advantages over the existing floatplanes like the
Vought O3U-3 and
Berliner-Joyce OJ-2, and no production resulted.
Operators
;
*
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
Specifications (XS2L-1)
See also
References
;Citations
External links
Loening XS2L-1 photograph.
{{USN scout aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Biplanes
1930s United States military reconnaissance aircraft
Amphibious aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1933