landing gear problem

[MajWoody]

I believe the gear on an f4u is designed to be an airbrake. The gear panels are facing flat against the wind when lowered to slow you quickly.

 If you doubt the validity of their use in a fight, try going up against blukitty in a hog sometime. You WILL believe.

[Rocket]

The gear on the F4U was reinforced for carrier landings and use in dive bombing.  They have flat panels on the front of them to help create drag.  I have more than once forced an over shoot by adding full flap and dropping gear in a slow fight then cleaning up in a hurry to get a shot off, it works very effectively as not many planes can stay afloat as slow as the hog can. (don't try against a zeke )

S!
Rocket

p.s.   I always use them in the traditional role of dive bombing to help keep me slower longer on steep decents.  Keeps a more stable platform to drop bombs from IMO.  Once the bombs are gone, clean up and zoom out as the hog will accel quickly in the dive.

[trotter]

Originally posted by Blagard
Good Grief. In either of the first two you can't fly well if you need gear drag as well in a desparate attempt to drop from 200mph due to a hopelessly reckless approach.

I'm not sure what you mean by hopelessly reckless. If you have been gliding without an engine for a while back to base, you are certainly going to overestimate to make sure you at least can make it to the runway. In landing on a carrier in such a situation, overestimation is even more important. You may find yourself crossing the threshold of the runway/flight deck at 200mph or so. Why not drop the gear at its earliest possible time, so you, in turn, can plop down safely at the earliest possible time?

And how is forcing an overshoot considered "reckless"?

Originally posted by Blagard
In some a/c you will not even be slow enough to drop flaps for landing!

Which aircraft are these? I'm not doubting you, I'm just curious. I'm pretty sure I've attempted a landing with every aircraft in the game, and I can't remember one that I couldn't drop flaps in.

Originally posted by Blagard
No dispute that gear adds drag but it is relatively small compared to other means

Every bit helps, if the situation calls for it. No point in not taking advantage of something positive your aircraft can provide you with.

Originally posted by Blagard
Just chopping the throttle to force an overshoot with some yaw will work I think you are overating the amount of drag you get from the gear over and above what you get from other actions.

I may be overrating the amount of drag, but, again, every bit helps. Obviously yaw will work better, but in situations where you know that once the bogey overshoots you can knock him out of the sky, the less yaw the better. Your nose will be in a better position to take that shot.

[Apeking]

"I wonder why I had 160 mph so imbedded in my tiny melon for so long?"

The Ki-84 can't drop landing gear above 160mph. Perhaps you fly the Ki-84 a lot.

[Blagard]

Trotter,

Remember the context of my comments relates to dropping gear at 200

If you have ever arrived at the threshold of a CV with 200 on the clock I reckon you will drop the entire aircraft! - There is no landing that I can think of where you even want to be 200mph at the final stages. With so many alternative means of getting speed off in good time, having to drop gear at 200mph is in my opinion reckless! - In your opinion it isn't, so fly as you fancy!

At 200 you will not be able to drop flaps in most british aircraft. You are taking my comment out of context as all aircraft with flaps will be able to drop them providing you are at an acceptable speed for type. Alternatively your comment "I'm pretty sure I've attempted a landing with every aircraft in the game" suggesting you can drop flaps at 200 with all is rubbish. Try any of the Spits, any Hurricane or Typhoon

You won't ever need to drop gear at 200 if your flying is half decent, why risk wrecking your gear ? - But if you need to carry on!

By the time a bogey is even level with you in an overshoot you should have been done trying to slow down! - But if you need more time to stop yaw then I suppose you do!


At the end of the day it's a game and from a gamers point of view, anything goes if it works. Perhaps I have allowed the thought that this is more than a mere game. But if the attitude of players gets to being that they prepared to wreck their landing gear just to try for a better chance of a kill then I am sorry, they certainly are not playing for the same reasons I do, so good luck to you.

[trotter]

I think you have misunderstood what I am saying. I am referring to the specific situation of approaching a landing when your engine is non-operational. The last thing you want to do in that situation is come up short of the runway, so, I usually over-compensate and purposefully come in a little faster than I should. I agree with you that no landing with a working engine should be in its final stages at around 200mph.

When you said that there are some aircraft that won't ever allow deployment of flaps in the landing, I thought you were referring to all landings, not just the "200mph" variety we had been discussing. Yes you're absolutely correct that some aircraft won't deploy flaps at that speed.

But anyway this is getting way off topic.

Where I still disagree with you is you assuming that dropping the gear in a risky situation just to get a kill somehow indicates a different breed of flyer than one who wants to preserve the gear intact. To me, this is the same thing- except for one wants another kill, and the other wants to make absolutely sure that they can land their kills. And besides, you seem very confident in your landing abilities; a belly landing should be no problem for you.

[Blagard]

"a belly landing should be no problem for you".

Quite So Trotter, but too many of 'em unfortnately as I still remember doing them!.
Have a good Christmas