Landing Gear (Alighting)
This section covers the landing gear, also known as the alighting assembly. It was sheer luck to find both port and starboard assemblies, since the majority of the wreck was salvaged in 1945. It may never be known as to the reason why they left behind this much aluminum and metal; left behind was the entire wheel assemblies with tires and oleo (compressed struts).
The first artifact of the assembly to be found, was the brake master cylinder inside the third deposit excavation. This gave hope that the rest of the assemblies would be found next.
A
C
The port-side wheel seen here, with its lower oleo strut and brake drum. The tire shows evidence of scrapping with the tire rubber being cut open.
The local people used the rubber to make soles for the shoes, as there was little to no materials after the war. The taking of inner tubes, the rubber fuel tanks in the wings; rubber was a very costly and prized possession. During these times, tires could not be recycled since no machinery existed to break down the multi-layer of nylon. This lead to a possibility of why the outer tires were left behind.
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Here on the left, is the complete strut of the right (A) landing gear, this was a small confusion as it was found next to the left lower strut, underneath not seen, and left tire (C).
Deposit 005 contained the first landing gear found, the right tire was found with the upper oleo strut of the left side assembly. It was all a matter of how the wreckage was deposited at the time they cleaned up the debris field in 1945/46. Note the different tread as compared to the right. This tire is made by US Royal Airplane.
Here in the lower photo, the left side wheel and lower oleo strut (A) was completely disassembled; the oleo cylinders were apart and the tire was off of the wheel. The complete oleo strut of the right side (B) has noticeable heavy damage, some from the impact, some caused by the flak explosion as there were several flak holes in the rim present, all found in deposit 006.
A
B
Left lower oleo strut from deposit 006 with left tire. The pink color is hydraulic brake fluid.
This is the upper left oleo from deposit 005, both lower and upper left side oleo struts, and tire showed practically no damage at all.
This is a part of the retracting and extending assembly for lowering the gear down and up.
RH Wheel and complete oleo, both exhibit extreme damage. The wheel found in deposit 005, while the oleo was in 006.
Cleanup of the left landing gear begins; they will be lightly sand blasted and sealed before reassembly.
This is a self-made mockup of the future exhibit of the full alighting gear. Beside cleaning and conserving the assembly, we will have it mounted in an extended position which is a tricky feat. Currently fund raising is in progress to raise enough to have a stable and robust mounting form built around the assembly, as shown on the right, strong enough to hold it in the position, but discreet enough to allow the artifact to be the display. We are also trying to find a technical engineering school to do the project.
