PACKARD Le Pere LUSAC 11

PACKARD Le Pere LUSAC 11

The LUSAC-11 (Lepère United States Army Combat) was an early American two-seat fighter aircraft. It was a French design, commissioned and built in the United States during World War I and ordered in large numbers by the United States Army Air Corps, but these were cancelled at the end of the war, and only 30 were built.

The LUSAC-11 was the perfect example of a fast and powerful “jack of all trades”, able to perform fighting missions as well as light bombing and reconnaissance. Packard Motor Car Co. of Detroit, Michigan provided the working space facilities, and additional engineers to the French team. The first of three prototypes flew in April 1918. Two other followed, making numerous demonstrations received generally favorable reviews from test pilots at Wilbur Wright Field, Ohio. So much so, that without delaying much, the Bureau of Aircraft Production launched a massive order to Packard of 3525 planes. But the tooling and setting up of the production just ended, and in November 1918 only 28 to 30 planes had been delivered in total. Not only none was sent in Europe and saw combat, but they served well in the Air Service for years.