Tiger Tim
Well-Known Member
I’ve been mulling over this for a couple weeks now after another thread was started asking about locking down the gear on a Titan T-51. Now, I don’t think that’s the right answer for a V8 powered Titan but what about something a little less serious? This is all just academic but I’d be curious to know people’s feelings on it:
On the smaller side, there’s the Isaacs Spitfire and I don’t think there’s anything too bothersome about the gear being ‘down and welded.’ It’s not like you can see the wheels from the cockpit but you can absolutely look out over those pretty elliptical wings. Any performance loss from fixed gear is probably more than made up for by the weight savings.
For a light and simple-ish Mustang I was thinking of something that fits in LSA (or Canadian Ultralight) rules, two seats, maybe only single control to keep it compact, and about 100hp via an O-200 or Corvair or Rotax 912. The gear of course would be fixed and no cutouts in the lower wing skin or gear doors or silly schemes to hide the wheels. Technologically it would slot somewhere above a Thatcher but below an RV.
But the whole idea is made or broken by just one thing: could it be cool or would it forever be lame for the ever-dangling gear?
On the smaller side, there’s the Isaacs Spitfire and I don’t think there’s anything too bothersome about the gear being ‘down and welded.’ It’s not like you can see the wheels from the cockpit but you can absolutely look out over those pretty elliptical wings. Any performance loss from fixed gear is probably more than made up for by the weight savings.
For a light and simple-ish Mustang I was thinking of something that fits in LSA (or Canadian Ultralight) rules, two seats, maybe only single control to keep it compact, and about 100hp via an O-200 or Corvair or Rotax 912. The gear of course would be fixed and no cutouts in the lower wing skin or gear doors or silly schemes to hide the wheels. Technologically it would slot somewhere above a Thatcher but below an RV.
But the whole idea is made or broken by just one thing: could it be cool or would it forever be lame for the ever-dangling gear?
