The L-W-F Engineering Company was organized in December, 1915, its chief asset the laminated wood monocoque fuselage machine which has carried the present company's name to such widely-separated places as Texas and the Czecho-Slavic front. The officers of the corporation are: J.M. Fitzgerald, President; Albert H. Flint, Vice-President and General manager, and W.N. Bennett, Secretary and Treasurer.

The first L-W-F Machine (Model F), equipped with Pontoons

When the recent war can be viewed in proper perspective, the Liberty motor will emerge as a fact from the rumor and speculation which now largely surround it. And when its history is told, the L-W-F Engineering company will have part therein. It will be remembered that the chief engineering talent of the country gathered in Washington in May, 1917, to consider the design and production of a motor larger and more powerful than any existing at that time in this country. The well-known Liberty motor was agreed upon in a remarkably short period of time, and experimentation with it was begun at once.

The original motor was an eight-cylinder type, developing from 250 to 300 horse power. Every motor requires a plane especially adapted for its use. In most cases an especially designed plane must be built. There were no planes in the United States suitable for the immediate installation of this motor, and no manufacturers, with one exception, were ready to guarantee a suitable plane in less than sixty days. The L-W-F Engineering Company agreed, however, to mount this motor in a plane adapted for it, and to have it ready for flying within ten days of the receipt of the motor. A wooden model dummy engine was to be used until the motor was received. The Company entered a formal contract to build the plane. Its compensations was set at $1. The delivery was to be in ten days.

The resultant plane, delivered in nine days, was known as the L-W-F Model F. One of its chief features was the laminated monocoque fuselage. This, with a sturdy military chassis, enabled the machine to mount the new motor, although the power of previous motors used in it had been about half that anticipated from the Liberty. On the 21st of August, 1917, the new motor in its adapted plane was flown successfully for the first time. The results were gratifying. The machine reached an altitude of 7,000 feet in the first ten minutes, and a 19,000 feet ceiling at the end of fourteen minutes. It proved faster than the Nieuport Speed Scout then at Mineola, one of the fastest European planes of its day.

The same Machine after a hurricane.
The fuselage, it will be seen, is still in good condition.

The Last L-W-F aircraft in the world now on display in the Prague Museum.
L-W-F factory was located in College Point, LI, NY and was later used by Sikorsky.

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