P-47 Landing Gear

[Zipper730]

I remember reading that the P-47's landing gear telescoped so it would be possible to stow in the wings while carrying 8 x 50 cal.

I remember hearing that despite the complexity, it had few problems: How did they avoid that?

 

[MiTasol]

The only P-47 I worked on was belly landed in a swamp and the task was to remove the wings without damage to allow for transport so I was not aware that the maingear struts shrunk.

From experience on the F4U and Grumman S2 Tracker aircraft I would expect the P-47 to use the same concepts as they use.

On the Corsair there is a shrink cable from an anchor point forward of the pivot point that pulls the strut "up" during retraction but does not affect movement when the gear is down. The Corsair gear retracts rearwards.

On the Tracker the same effect is caused by a telescopic shrink strut mounted forward of the pivot point that causes the same effect. Again the Tracker gear retracts rearwards.

The photo at P-47D Thunderbolt – WalkAround shows a diagonal strut (arrowed) that could be a telescopic shrink strut given the angle it is at. Unfortunately the struts on this aircraft are flat so some detail is missing.

Have a look at sites like Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Modeler's Online Reference and you may find other photos to confirm this is correct.

I will try and find some diagrams for the Corsair and Tracker gears.

 

[MiTasol]

See P-47D Walkaround, Texas | Large Scale Planes

 

[Airframes]

Yep, the 'smaller', rod-like strut is a retraction telescoping strut, which compresses the main strut oleo as the gear retracts.

 

[Crimea_River]

 

[Zipper730]

So the F4U, S-2, and P-47 all used this?

 

[Doom!]

Ok, that is pretty cool. I love P-47's and I wasn't aware of this feature.

 

[Zipper730]

How hard would it be to have designed a double telescoping-strut so you could get a big landing gear and a big prop and retract it into a small space with reasonable reliability?

 

[Crimea_River]

That would be your Sea Fury.

 

[MiTasol]

So the F4U, S-2, and P-47 all used this?

Yes, Rods for S2 and P-47, cable for F4U

 

[MiTasol]

How hard would it be to have designed a double telescoping-strut so you could get a big landing gear and a big prop and retract it into a small space with reasonable reliability?

Compare the complexity, number of potential failure points, assembly weight, manufacturing costs, and maintenance man-hours of the Sea Fury gear with the P-47 gear. The P-47 gear wins on all counts.

The Sea Fury gear is a good example of the first law of British aircraft design. Why make it easy when with a bit of effort you can make it bloody near impossible.

Mi

 

[Zipper730]

Regarding the Sea-Fury: How much extra length was reduced when the gear was double-telescoped and retracted?

Airframes , MiTasol , S Shortround6 , W wuzak

 

[Zipper730]

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