The Loening XSL was an American submarine-based

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

designed and built by

Grover Loening Aircraft Company Loening Aeronautical Engineering Corporation was founded 1917 by Grover Loening and produced early aircraft and amphibious aircraft. After it merged with Keystone Aircraft Corporation in 1928, some of its engineers left to form Grumman and Grover L ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Design and development

First flown in 1931, the Loening XSL was a lightweight flying-boat designed to be folded up and stored in an 8-foot-diameter watertight tube on the deck of a submarine. It was a single-seat,

mid-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

monoplane powered by a

Warner Scarab The Warner Scarab is an American seven-cylinder radial engine, radial aircraft engine, that was manufactured by the Warner Aircraft Corporation of Detroit, Michigan in 1928 through to the early 1940s. In military service the engine was designate ...

radial engine mounted above the wing driving a pusher propeller. Originally designated the XSL-1 by the Navy, it was re-designated XSL-2 in 1932 when it was re-engined with a

Menasco B-6 The Menasco Buccaneer was a series of popular six-cylinder, air-cooled, in-line, inverted, aero-engines that were manufactured by Menasco Motors Company for light general aviation and sport aircraft during the 1930s and 1940s. The six-cylinder ...

engine. Only the prototype was built; it was not ordered into production.

Variants

;XSL-1 :Prototype with a

engine. ;XSL-2 :Prototype re-engined with a

engine.

Specifications (XSL-1)

Notes

Bibliography

* * {{USN scout aircraft SL 1930s United States military reconnaissance aircraft Submarine-borne aircraft Flying boats High-wing aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1931

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (XSL-1)

See also

Notes

Bibliography