 Buehl entered the United States on 13 May 1920, and only nine days later, on 22 May 1920, the L.W.F OWL took its first flight at Mitchel Field, Mineola, Long Island, just a short distance from Larsen's field on Long Island. It is likely that Buehl visited Mitchel Field during this event because the OWL was built to offer for sale to the United States government as a long-range, night-flying mail plane. In other words, the OWL was offered to the Post Office in direct competition to the JL-6. The OWL's body was made of laminated wood, with a three seat fuselage in the center and two tail booms, one on either side of the fuselage. The design is reminiscent of one of the Italian "Caproni" bombers of World War I. With its three, 400-horsepower Liberty 12 engines, It could carry 7,600 pounds, and with its huge biplane wings, its takeoff distance with in full load was only 400 feet. The OWL's range was over 1,000 miles. The Post Office did not show an interest in the OWL, so in 1921 and 1922, the manufacturer attempted to market it to the U.S. Army as a bomber. Again, it generated no interest. According to a NASA publication (Spearman, M. Leroy. (1985) "SOME COMPARISONS OF US AND USSR AIRCRAFT DESIGN DEVELOPMENTS. NASA Technical Memorandum 87611. Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 23665) (http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19860006738.pdf), the "performance was adequate but not impressive." There was only one prototype of the OWL built, and in 1923 it was scrapped. |
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