Looking for an a/c tire size.

[jblessing]

Greetings. I've been a WWII aircraft nut since my very young years and they still stir my heart @ 75.
I retired from the tire business after nearly 50 yrs. @ the same firm-mainly dealing in government surplus tires. My area of expertise was converting a/c tires, after they're off the a/c, to be used on agri. and industrial equipment. I've had wheels designed and manufactured to accept the various a/c tire sizes and then applied for other uses.

The firm I worked for has for many years worked with various aircraft museums, finding for them hard to find tire sizes for their restorations. Even though I've been retired for seven years, my old employer contacts me occasionally to pick my brain on older aircraft.

Currently, the Pima Air Museum in Tucson,AZ.,is beginning to restore a Brewster SB2A Buccaneer and has contacted us to locate the original tires. I've researched many of my old tire size listings, but thus far no luck. The Buccaneer was made in the early 40's, but wasn't too successful - only about 720 were built before something better replaced it. There is one that's restored in the Naval museum in Florida, but they just threw on a couple of 16" a/c tires that fit and looked okay (a modern size). The Pima outfit wants only what is correct.

I'm reaching out to any of you to see if you have any idea where I might drag out this info. on the tire size for the main gear. You can also contact me via email- [email protected]

Thank you for any help.

 

[fubar57]

There is a survivor....National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida
You might be able to get info from them if they have the right tires installed

 

[jblessing]

As I said earlier, the one in Florida does not have the correct tire size installed.Still looking.
Thanks for you reply.

 

[fshort]

Hi:

I can't help you w/ your tire size request - sorry!

But, your post brings up a subject - tire preservation on museum aircraft. We've all seen the stands supporting aircraft slightly above the ground to save the tires - avoiding the constant re-airing of them or collapse & cracking, etc.

My question is, what else can be done to preserve old tires in contact with the ground?

I've tried the tire fill with the gel (used on farm equipment, etc.) to replace the air inside entirely. It was on my pit motorcycle
and it worked extremely well. No more flats. It was limited to under 50 mph and made the tire very heavy.

I then tried it on some go kart slicks for a pit cart. After storage for 20 years, the tire rubber was softened - not good.
I don't know if it was the soft racing rubber compound...

The only use I know in the aircraft museum world is the NASM's Ar 234 - their filled the tires with the gel & their only comment was that it made the tires extremely heavy.

For my He 162A-2 project, I have (2) NOS 660x190 MLG tires - that are perfect! You can't believe that they're over 70 years old.

I want to be able to have the airplane displayed on the ground - thus the question of how to do that.

I'm putting springs inside the struts to avoid the leak down issue.

Also, I need inner tubes to protect the tires from whatever solution I come up with.

If this is too far off topic, please reply to me: [email protected].

Thanks!

Regards,
James