The Loening M-8 was an American two-seater monoplane fighter designed by Grover Loening. It was pretended to serve during the Great War, during the great offensive of 1919 (which never took place as the war ended in November 1918), in fact an initial order of 5000 airplanes was placed but, due to the end of the war, it was cancelled.
It was the first design of Grover Loening after founding his company. It was a two-seat braced wing monoplane fighter. It featured a fixed tailskid landing gear and was powered by an Hispano-Suiza engine set in a tractor configuration. It featured a tandem open-cockpit for both pilot and gunner.
The first prototype flew in 1918 and, after performing some tests, the USAAS placed an order of 5000 airplanes which was cancelled when the war ended. Only two aircraft were delivered to the army and one to the navy. However, the navy ordered 46 airplanes in two variants, in order to use them as observer airplanes.
Some kind of follow-on more developed version was also made in the form of a single-seat fighter. The Loening PW-2.
The version made of this airplane were as follows:
- M-8: Initial production version. 5000 ordered, only two examples delivered.
- M-8-0: Navy observation version
- M-8-1: Improved variant built for the navy. 36 manufactured.
- M-8-S: Seaplane version built for the navy. Only 6 built.
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