Aircraft here include the American LePere Lusac II, the Boeing FB-5, the Curtis NC-4 and the Soviet Polikarpov I-153 fighter, which was one the best biplane fighters ever built. LePere Lusac was an American fighter designed by a Frenchman for the US. It would have been America's first fighter, but just missed World War I> In 1919, the NC-4 flying boat became the first plane to cross the Atlantic, albeit making many stops along the way and supported by a fleet of USN vessels.