Stuka With Retractable Landing Gear: What If?

Yes, but I though of the design of the Stuka's fixed gear made the nose want to pitch up in a dive.. ahhh perhaps I'm just over thinking it lol.

If anything, it would create a form of drag that would induce a "nose down" attitude, but the airframe was designed with all that taken into consideration.

On the Eastern Front, the "spats" (wheel covers) were removed because of the mud-fouling. This actually created a noticable (noticable, but not significant) change in it's handling. So the landing gear as fitted to the airframe had been taken into account when the design was finalized and put into production.

Maybe this is a possible compromise...
Gentlemen, let me present to you the Saab 17 dive bomber:





Kris

Balsa had it right : "You can't increase the speed of the JU-87 without dealing with the flight control surfaces."
Which would mean a new aeroplane, the Ju-187.
Yet a crude retractable landing gear modification on the Stuka was certainly possible, like the one on this Saab 17, 'at worst.'

As it was, the Ju-87 with its simple fixed gear, wonderful control surfaces for low speeds, short ranged front-line operations, and excellent precision, and good bomb carrying capacities thanks for the lightweight stiff undercarriage, made a good package with little to change.

However, there was one instance where it was'nt 'front-line short-ranged operations' at all, and it was the Battle of Britain.
There, on I think two occasions but certainly on one famous occasion, the Stukas that had been doing quite a good job under protection until then, missed their Messerschmidt escort, and where heavily pounded by Hurricanes. The Lufwaffe crews put on a good show trying to shake off their attackers, but the Hurricane boys had other intentions, and where dedicated to finish them all down to the last. Very few Ju87s survived.
On that occasion, or these occasions, some extra speed even minimal given by a crude retractable LG would have shortened their martyrdom, bringing them out of range from the RAF fighters sooner, and limiting losses.
On that very occasion the Lufwaffe command, facing the disaster, decided to withhold further Stuka operations 'until the invasion begins'.
Had Stukas been modified with retractable landing gears, 'at worst' in the Saab 17 fashion, the decision that night might have been... "anders", as they say. And the story flowing from those crucials days, who knows, "ganz anders."

Point #2 : in the last part of the Pacific war, F-4U Corsair pilots did engage in dive bombing, against lightly 'ack-ack' defended pinpoint targets, difficult to reach otherwise in 'horizontal' attacks. Then they found their short and sturdy undercarriage most handy, as an efficient dive brake...
So in a way, yes... an extended undercarriage does provide a good way to enhance efficiency of dive bombing... while retractable ones are another one to win battles.
Simply put!

Good remarks all the way through this thread. And pics !