B-17G Landing Gear Mod

[Jack Cook]

B-17G "Sugar" 381st BG 11-43

[PbyCat-Guy]

How did they get the B-17 up there on the cart? A B-17 is a heavy airplane. Maybe some big enough cranes?

[51fixer]

How did they get the B-17 up there on the cart? A B-17 is a heavy airplane. Maybe some big enough cranes?

Probably air bags. The trailer might have some kind of lifting mechanism as well.
Rich

[steve dickey]

Number three blades bent fwd, number fours bent backwards! HUH Gear collapse perhaps? No chin turret damage looks like, thought they always dug in the chin during a bellyflop?

[Matt Gunsch]

It looked like #3 was the only one on the right side making any power at touchdown. Also, the left gear is down, and the right is up, so that is why the chin turret did not dig in.

[Old SAR pilot]

Got lifted like this one, perhaps?

http://www.8thafhsoregon.com/archive/Ja ... pickup.jpg

[The Inspector]

Neat deal! But I can see time issues on group launches trying to get those tracked cranes going fast enough to sling the airplane into the air, especially when full loads of bombs and fuel were called for by the planners. But at least the USAAF was trying to take a page from the Navy on catapults-

[Swiss Mustangs]

result of a landing on one main wheel.... left wheel was down, right wheel wasn't.... engine #3 was on full power, its sister next to it only windmilling... therefore the different bent blades.... the port engines were not affected or damaged in this incident...

381st BG 534th BS - a/c B-17G 42-37721 coded GD-L - salvaged 19th May 1944

Martin

[JDK]

But at least the USAAF was trying to take a page from the Navy on catapults-

In the late 1930s, the RAF explored using 'accelerators' (catapults) to get fully loaded bombers into the air, in part to avoid the restrictions placed by using pre-war all-over grass fields.

Aircraft up to Lancaster size were stressed for the job, and test fired...

Metalled runways proved more viable.

[airnutz]

How did they get the B-17 up there on the cart? A B-17 is a heavy airplane. Maybe some big enough cranes?

Probably air bags. The trailer might have some kind of lifting mechanism as well.
Rich

An excellent modern solution 51Fixer, posing an interesting question. When did the 1st Weisenheimer come
along who saw a fuel/or whatever bladder as a lifting tool...Just curious..

[Flat 12x2]

How did they get the B-17 up there on the cart? A B-17 is a heavy airplane. Maybe some big enough cranes?

Probably air bags. The trailer might have some kind of lifting mechanism as well.
Rich

An excellent modern solution 51Fixer, posing an interesting question. When did the 1st Weisenheimer come
along who saw a fuel/or whatever bladder as a lifting tool...Just curious..

Colour film of a B-17 belly landing at Podington & of lifting by airbags. Even with both wheels retracted the No. 3 & 4 props end up looking like the pic. above. Not sure they would lift enough to get that trolley underneath though.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_WepIIcW9w

[airnutz]

Thanks Flat! Cool..still would like to know the airbag what/who/when..I know..trivial..
but a 'tooltimer' curiosity..

[hahnej]

Chin turret but no angled cheek guns, looks like F model nose glass
I read somewhere that a few late F models got chin turrets - is this maybe one of those?

[Swiss Mustangs]

as mentioned earlier

serial 42-37721 - a Douglas-Long Beach B-17G-10-DL

[Django]

This site Old SAR pilot posted has some killer photos of the repair work post crash...

http://www.8thafhsoregon.com/archive/Jacob-Kaplan