CoolPix - Vintage Military: B-36 Tank Track Landing Gear... Really?
Friday, June 18, 2010 at 08:13AM 
(click pic for hi-res)
Probably the most unusual looking CoolPix so far.
Looking a lot like something out of a really bad 1950’s sci-fi movie, this tank style ‘track’ landing gear was actually tried on the massive Convair B-36 Peacemaker around 1950. Originally the B-36 was configured with a huge, single main wheel and tire on each main gear leg as the pic below shows. These were the largest tires ever built at the time with a diameter of 9 ft 2 in! The single tire idea was soon changed to a 4-wheel bogie configuration because the single tire concentrated the over 400,000 pound gross weight into too small of an area. Very few runways could support the weight. It also increased the risk of loss of control of the aircraft in the event of a tire failure.
This tank track idea is both interesting and bizarre. It certainly makes sense to try to increase the contact patch of the gear, but seeing it installed here feels a bit disturbing. Wikipedia says the system was heavy and made a lot of noise, but I’m intrigued enuf to continue to look for more info on how it performed. The pic above seems to show the tracks sunk down into the ground quite a bit, but there’s no way to know how soft that terrain was. I did see a page from a 1950 magazine article for sale on eBay that shows the airplane in flight with these wild things hanging off the gear legs.
A couple interesting items about those huge single tires originally used on the B-36. I remember going to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio when I was 8 years old (1969) and seeing one of the gear legs with the massive tire attached. I haven’t been to the museum for several years (gonna fix that before long), but I’m guessing it’s still on display. It’s pretty amazing to see for sure. And, just 35 miles east of me in Fort Wayne, Indiana, an automotive maintenance business called Fox & Fox has one of the wheel and tire assemblies on display in front of the store… how weird is that?! (click Fox & Fox to see their store front)
The original B-36 single-tire main landing gear: that's some big tires!
Reader Comments (5)
Great pictures! I had never seen the track type landing gear until you posted that picture. Interesting concept.
Laura- I've got a pretty large database of useless aviation trivia tucked away inside my head, but I'd never seen anything on this either. I stumbled on to it, and then was really happy to find a hi-res image of it too. I also bought the picture on eBay that I mention in the info above... you'll see another post with it before long : )
Hi Martt,
Trying to find someone who can corroborate this story.
I remember hearing the story as a kid from uncles or my father of event during WWII at Curtis-Wright plant in Buffalo, NY (actually in Cheektowaga NY on Genesee St). The way the story went Curtis produced Warhawks during the war. After the planes were constructed they would test fly them. One day they were test flying a plane over Lake Ontario and the plane developed engine trouble. The pilot bailed out after putting the plane in auto-pilot. The plane did not crash (with no pilot) but kept flying, turned back on autopilot and returned to the Curtis Wright plant, and crashed into the paint shop at Curtis and killed a bunch of people. Some I've told this story to find this hard to believe, I myself after thinking about it it seems unlikely. Have you ever heard this story. I would like to corroborate or not.
Please email me if you have any thoughts on this.
Regards and thanks,
Jim Fox
The tire in front of Fox & Fox was reportedly from a B36 that crashed into Lake Wawasee. The Air Force recovered several parts from the wreck and were transporting them to Wright Patt via rail. One of the cars derailed in Ft Wayne near Fox & Fox dumping the tire and it was not reloaded back onto the train. Many friends in Ft Wayne told me how they visited Wawasee and could swim to the plane crash and sit on top of the engine nacelles (with the prop blades still sticking up).
shayur e3d3fd1842 https://www.myscrapbookpro.com/syoutronunson