On March 26, 1950, the B-36 Air Force bombardment took off with cabinets instead of tires for landing equipment.
The military planners were concerned that B-36, at the time the heaviest aircraft in the American stock was very heavy so that it could not work from most airports. The US Air Force also tested the paths on several other aircraft. However, after a long series of failures, the Pentagon abandoned the idea.
Terminal Terminal Path installed on B-36 Bomber
B-36 was designed during World War II. The Air Force considered that one of the assets is likely to be valuable as the United States entered the Cold War. Huge, with a maximum boot weight gaining 409,996 pounds, B-36 can be drowned in the journey line concrete if he sits for a long time. There were also very few corridors in the United States that could stand up to take off the plane.
The initial design of B-36 had one-wheel landing equipment. It also used the largest tires produced by the United States at the time. Goodyear manufactured the tires that were 110 inches in diameter and 36 inches. Each frame weighs about 1320 pounds. The tires included 30 % construction of the nylon wire, equal to about 60 car tires. For comparison, tires are on C-5 Galaxy It has a diameter of 48 inches, 19 inches, and weighs about 200 pounds.
Problems due to weight and complexity
After trying the track designs on other aircraft, the Air Force installed them on the B-36 test. From the beginning, the regime faced problems because of its weight and complexity. He had belts on each side, Two -inch thickness in the middle and one inch thickness on both sides. Copper -coated cables strengthened belts. The weight of the pathway 5600 pounds more than traditional landing equipment On the plane.
The test program started with a maximum weight of the plane 250,000 pounds. The Air Force first tested its taxi ability and then decided to take a flight test. B-36, with tracks, managed to take off for the first and only trip on March 26, 1950. The flight crew later said that the boot was.Very rough and loud“I fell after a short trip.Trail“Be successor to the runway.
The Air Force tested the path systems on other aircraft
The Air Force in the end decided that the path system was “” “”Inappropriate for such heavy planes“Abandoning the project. While he failed at the end, the concept first appeared before 1950. In November 1939, JW Christie, The Christie Tank inventor and representatives of Dowty Equipment Corporation, approached the Army Air Force. They met with General HH ARNOLD in 1939 and presented an idea to use landing systems.
In 1941, Dowty signed a $ 20,000 contract for a decline engineering engineering engineer in Douglas A-20. Dowty produced a design with The inflation belt in the air, two of the two main rollers with the brakes, and two smaller auxiliary rollers, spread on a part of the belt that did not touch the ground, and smaller countries or a family installed under the upper period of the belt to provide constant tension.
In February 1942, Air Force Transfer Design to Goodyear Tyre & Rubber Company To manufacture A-20 landing system. Under this arrangement, all the ingredients produced in Goodyear, Dowty and Firestone. They installed the rubber-inlaid track system on Stearman P-17, then on Fairchild PT-19, and finally on A-20. The initial test has proven that the system works.
Breaking belts and excessive weight
The A-20 system was not withdrawn and had traditional nasal equipment. The ground test was somewhat successful, despite the failure of a belt. Another problem was that the system weighs twice the traditional landing equipment. Its weight also requires 15 % boot roll.
The Air Force continued to examine the settlement tracking systems. In 1943 at the 1943 attempts to the Cortis P-40 fighter for beaches. In 1944 the test led to a blockage of the track system with sod, clay and snow, which extended the belt. They also found that the tracks were not able to travel over trenches and other obstacles.
The Air Force abandoned the paths of P-40 but not tested, despite the lack of success C-82 and B-50. In 1948, the gear was witnessed on the C-82 structural failure during the test in the sand, and the main course of the course of the gear fell. At B-50, engineers discovered that the path interferes in the defensive weapons system. Judyier, who was assigned to produce belts, faced a problem making it strong enough for the plane. They found that they could not use the belts over 70 miles per hour.
In the end, during the flight test, the paths had lower licks, and the system had difficulties in maintenance. The Air Force did not continue to test the paths on B-50.
Update airports eliminating the need for tracks
Then the Air Force thought about using the paths on B-36, but the failure of the equipment was not the only thing that led to the abandonment of it. In the years after World War II, airports were developed capable of dealing with heavy aircraft, so the paths will not be necessary.
Cortis and Air Force also changed the design of B-36 to A. Quad wheel landing equipment Preparing instead of forming original individual frames.