Quote:
Originally Posted by Butelczynski
I find it interesting how so many aircraft were designed with bicycle type of a landing gear in 1950/60s and I can't think of any designed in last 20 years.
At the same time B-52,U-2 and possibly Harriers are still buzzing around 
Nice build Issac.I like your wingtip pods-I had hell of a time with mine even with their much simpler design. |
The bicycle landing gear in my opinion is a bad compromise. It trades off a lighter and more flexible wing to a fuselage that loses precious volume to house a landing gear. All that space could be used for fuel and equipment . Also, this design makes the plane wobly on the ground during turns. So handling is poor compared to tricycle gear .
It was a dead end concept. However, if you have a twin fuselage aircraft, then this concept is still usefull, like the new space launcher planes. But those are specialized one off designs.google Stratolaunch aircraft.
Isaac