LOHNER TYPE L FLYING BOAT (FLUGBOOT)

COMMENTS: The Lohner Type L was one of several flying boat designs made by this manufacturer for the Austro-Hungarian government during World War One.  These overall were said to have very good performance.  The Type L was a larger version with steel struts (six per side connected by transverse steel struts), swept back wings and trapezoidal (overall) ailerons.

     A Flying Boat is an aeroplane with a boat shaped fuselage bottom to allow it to land and take off on calm water.  This use would allow the plane to operate - take off and land - without the need for a prepared airfield or even a clearing.  This made them more flexible in some ways than normal aircraft.  Often, as here, they had no undercarriage, meaning wheels or landing gear.  They would be wheeled about in carts that fit under the fuselage.  When the plane was to be flown it would rolled across the beach from its hanger near the waters edge.  Much like a boat trailer, the carriage would be rolled into the water until the plane could float off of it.  Alternatively the planes would taxi onto the shore, beaching themselves or in some civilian cases they would tie up to docks like motorboats while some other types were operated off of ships.  The latter would often be collapsible and would be craned from the hold or storage onto the deck of a ship, assembled, fueled and crewed and then lowered onto the water by crane.  This process would be reversed after the plane would land and taxi alongside the ship.  As to the Type L, the author has no knowledge of its use, but for a single picture of it ashore on a wheel carriage of the type first mentioned above.

MANUFACTURER: Lohner, Jacob & Sons, Aircraft and Body Builders, Vienna, Austria

TYPE: Amphibian, Bomber

CREW CONFIGURATION: 3?

WING CONFIGURATION: Biplane, fabric, plywood and wood, Steel Struts, Swept Back

ARMAMENT: Bomb Load of 440 kg.

MAXIMUM SPEED: 105 K.P.H.

ENGINE CONFIGURATION: One 140-160 H.P. Austro-Daimler or 150 h.p. Rapp, Over Cockpit Between Wing Pusher

WING SPAN: 16.2m Overall (Upper Plane)

LENGTH: 10.25m Overall

HEIGHT: ? m Maximum

WING SURFACE: ? sq.m. Total

WEIGHT: 1,700 kg. Loaded

NUMBER PRODUCED: 12 Type L, 92 Type T (same basic design)

DATES OF PRODUCTION: 1915-1918

DATES OF SERVICE: 1914-

SERVICE: Austro-Hungary, Naval Air Service, World War I

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SQUADRON.COM  A page such as this one with an Illustration and description of the Type L

AVIATION USK'S ONLINE HOBBY SHOP Online Model Shop, they say they sell a 1/72 scale model of the Lohner Type L

BOOKS: Die Flugzeuge Der k.u.k. Luftfahrtruppe Und Seeflieger 1914-1918 Published by Weishaupt Verlag, 1988; Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War I, Michael Taylor, Jane's Publishing Co.1919, Studio Editions 1990

Sources: Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War I, Michael Taylor, Jane's Publishing Co.1919, Studio Editions 1990;