Warbird Information Exchange

A third question:

• According to page 128 of Dan Hagedorn's T-6 book:
  
  Dan Hagedorn wrote:
  There was one additional development of the late AT-6F series. This involved 44-81661, which was assigned for duty as a crosswind landing gear installation test aircraft around 1 December 1950, and it received the designation ET-6F.
  
  (Source: Dan Hagedorn, North American’s T-6: A Definitive History of the World’s Most Famous Trainer (North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2009), 128.)
  
  An article by Carol Glines offers additional detail by stating that had "swivel" landing gear.
  
  Does anyone have any more information or pictures about this aircraft? I am quite curious what this could possibly refer to and how an aircraft with such a feature - at least as I can best conceive of it - would actually work.

In 1956, two more options became available. The first, Geisse Safety Landing Gear, was described as being able to "virtually eliminate crosswind landing problems, a device that permitted each main landing gear wheel to caster outward, under hydraulic and spring control. In a crosswind landing, it automatically and precisely compensated for crab introduced to correct for drift. When the airplane wheels contacted the runway at an angle to the plane's flight path, as in a crosswind landing, the side loads applied to downwind wheel caused it to caster outward. With the wheel castered, the airplane would swing to a heading parallel with its flight path; as the airplane came about, the side loads on the castered wheel were relieved and the wheel returned to its normal alignment." [10.14] Reportedly, on crosswind takeoffs it had no effect except with developing ground-loops; it then assisted in bringing the plane under control by straightening it on a new heading. It acted normally during taxiing or when the plane was pushed or towed. The safety gear weighed 17 lbs. and cost $1,500 if installed at the factory. It consisted of a hydraulic cylinder and piston that replaced the lower leg of the torque knee. A signal light on the instrument panel warned the pilot that a wheel was castered and that the landing gear should not be retracted.
At first, it was a popular option and was ordered for 33 of the next 88 Super 18s.[10.15] This safety gear was developed by John H. Geisse, substantially improving the original work done by All American Aviation (see Chapter 11, AAA Crosswind Landing Gear) and produced under license by Beech. A kit was then offered by Beech for installations on earlier Super 18 and D18S aircraft, but not for the D18S with oleo-leg landing gear. With years of experience on Beechcraft 18s, Nick Quint notes that the Geisse landing gear had two problems, "Pilots thought it was similar to the Cessna cross wind gear, where both wheels caster in the same direction and you touched down in a crab." It wasn't and when you touched down with "this system, only the downwind wheel castered outward. As soon as the upwind wheel touched down, if you didn't square up the airplane first, you were going for a ride! They were also difficult to maintain, so they were often removed and replaced with the solid links."[10.16]

Footnotes

10.14: "Geisse Safety Gear, Other New Features Optional on Super 18," The Beechcrafter, June 1956: 2.
10.15: Aviation Week, 24 Dec. 1956: 75.
10.16: Nick Quint, e-mail to the author, 5 Mar. 2001.

In 1947, [All American Aviation] developed and tested a castering crosswind landing gear on a CAA C18S NX74(2), under a research project contract with the CAA.[11.46] The assistant to the Administrator for General Aviation Development of the CAA, John H. Geise, had initiated and directed the investigation of the landing gear, resulting in the CAA/AAA contract. This research was done to determine the need for multidirectional crosswind runways. The gear was successfully demonstrated at Washington National Airport, D.C., on April 15, 1948.[11.47] One month later, a demonstration was given to the Aviation Writers Association in New York City.
The gear's purpose was aiding crosswind landings; the AAA tests were successful, demonstrating that multiple runways were unnecessary. A cost analysis proved that all aircraft then in service could be modified for crosswind operations at a fraction of the cost of building crosswind runways. This led to the CAA Administrator adopting a policy to restrict federal funding for construction of runways specifically for wind coverage. This saved millions in the Federal Airport Program, and Geisse was awarded the 1950 Department of Commerce Gold Medal for "outstanding contribution to the public service and the nation."[11.48]
On January 14, 1949, the crosswind gear was transferred to another CAA C18S, NX219, and six months later it was removed due to "defective clusters on the main spar."[11.49] After leaving government service, Geisse continued to work on crosswind landing gears and "invented and patented an entirely new type which was much simpler, less costly and lighter than any then available. The new type was manufactured under license by the Beech and Cessna airplane companies for both civil and military use."[11.50] The Geisse Safety Landing Gear was offered as an option on production Beechcraft E18S in 1956, and in kit form for use on earlier E18S and D18S aircraft.
[Emphasis added]

Footnotes

11.46: Other participants in the CAA crosswind landing gear project were Fairchild on a PT-26; Goodyear on a DC-3 and a Piper J-3; Firestone on an Ercoupe; Bellanca on an Aircruiser; and Northrop on a Pioneer. Scott A. Thompson, "Aircraft of the FAA and Its Predecessors," American Aviation Historical Society Journal 46 1 (Spring 2001): 50.
11.47: Arnold E. Briddon, Ellmore A. Champie and Peter A. Marraine, FAA Historical Fact Book: A Chronology 1926-1971 (Washington, DC: FAA, 1974), 59-60.
11.48: John H. Geisse Papers, Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, http://www.hoover.nara.gov/visiting.html
11.49: The C18S was retired to storage at the CAA Aero Center, Oklahoma City, OK on October 31, 1950. Notes from "CAA Aircraft Registration Records for N219," National Air and Space Museum Project via Dan Hagedorn.
11.50: John H. Geisse Papers.

Approach Light

The Type 1-A approach light in the leading edge
of the left wing operates in conjunction with the
arresting hook.

When the arresting hook is extended, the ap-
proach light automatically illuminates and indicates
to the signal office [sic] the attitude of the airplane in
regard to carrier landing as follows: red light, too
low; green light, too high; amber light, correct approach.

When landing on an airfield (arresting hook
retracted), the approach light may be operated by
the switch on the pilot's electrical panel (Item 8,
Page 29.