Packard-Le Père LUSAC-11

Packard-Le Père LUSAC-11
Pays	Usa
Rôle	Chasseur
Premier vol	15 mai 1918
Construit	30

Lla LUSAC-11 (Lepère United States Army Combat) était un avion de chasse biplace américain. C’était une conception Français, commandée et construite aux États-Unis pendant la Première Guerre mondiale et commandée en grand nombre par l’United States Army Air Corps, mais ceux-ci ont été annulés à la fin de la guerre, et seulement 30 ont été construits. Le type a été utilisé à des fins expérimentales, établissant plusieurs records d’altitude au cours des années 1920.

Source: Packard-Le Père LUSAC-11 sur Wikipédia

Packard LePere LUSAC-11 Walk Around
Photographe	Vladimir Yakubov
Localisation	Musée national de l’USAF
Photos	35

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A French Design with American Muscle

Lla Packard LePère LUSAC-11 (Lepère United States Army Combat) was a two-seat fighter designed by Captain Georges LePère of the French Air Service for production in the United States. While it arrived too late to see combat in World War I, it became a legendary testbed in the early 1920s. Armed with the powerful American Liberty Engine, it was one of the fastest and highest-climbing aircraft of its era, serving as the platform for pioneering research into high-altitude flight and turbocharging.

Attribute	Technical Specification (LUSAC-11)
Rôle	Two-Seat Fighter / Reconnaissance
Crew	2 (Pilot and Observer/Gunner)
First Flight	May 15, 1918
Groupe motopropulseur	1 × Liberty L-12 water-cooled V-12 engine
Horsepower	425 hp (317 kW)
Vitesse maximale	136 mph (219 km/h)
Service Ceiling	20,200 feet (Standard) / 34,500+ feet (Modified)
Armement	2 × .30 cal Marlins (Forward); 2 × .30 cal Lewis guns (Rear)

Engineering for the Stratosphere

The Liberty Engine Integration: Unlike many contemporary biplanes that used lower-powered rotary engines, the LUSAC-11 was designed specifically around the liquid-cooled Liberty L-12. This engine provided a massive power-to-weight ratio for the time.
Veneer Fuselage: The aircraft featured a plywood-veneer monocoque fuselage, which was much stronger and more aerodynamic than the traditional fabric-on-wood-frame construction used on most WWI fighters.
Turbo-Supercharging Research: The LUSAC-11 was famously used by Dr. Sanford Moss to test the first exhaust-driven turbo-superchargers. This allowed the engine to maintain power even as the air thinned at high altitudes.
Staggered Wings: The biplane wings were staggered to improve the pilot’s visibility and aerodynamic efficiency, a hallmark of LePère’s clean French design philosophy.

A Legacy of Records

Shattering the Ceiling: On September 28, 1921, Lieutenant John A. Macready flew a specially modified LUSAC-11 to a world-record altitude of 34,509 feet. At this height, the air was so thin and cold that Macready required a primitive supplemental oxygen system.
The McCook Field Era: Most LUSAC-11s spent their careers at McCook Field in Ohio, the center of U.S. Army Air Service engineering. They were used to test everything from new propellers to early flight instruments.
Late to the Fight: Of the 3,500 units originally ordered, only about 25 were completed before the Armistice led to mass cancellations. Only two were actually shipped to France before the war ended.
Survivor: The only remaining LUSAC-11 is a centerpiece of the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, restored to represent the aircraft used in the 1921 record flight.