Comments on: Anna Walker belly-lands Seafire in France

By: World Warbird News

World Warbird News — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 09:10:49 +0000

In reply to James. Thanks for the detailed answer James ! Indeed, that's not an easy process to describe...

By: James

James — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 03:55:28 +0000

Difficult to describe but will give it a shot: The gear legs lock with large spring loaded pins, one located in each wheel well. The locking pins have an angled end. Crucially, they rotate with the U/C selector lever. On moving the U/C selector lever, the pins rotate so as to present the angled end of the locking pin to the moving U/C leg, the up lock hoops (visable on the ground) on the Spitfire oleo leg then push the pin back, the pin then snaps forward into the hoop, locking the leg up. On selecting U/C down, the locking pin is rotated, presenting the angled end of the locking pin to the leg, which as it moves down, pushes the pin back. Now the locking loop, cast into the top of the U/C leg, (not visable on the ground as it sits ontop of the leg, hidden in the wheel well), then pushes the pin back, the pin snaps back, locking the leg in the down position. If the pin is showing the angled end to the moving leg, like a door jam, it can push the pin back. If the pin cannot be rotated, the pin cannot be pushed back and the gear will remain locked up or down.
pin rotation is by a connection to the U/C lever, with thin cables and bicycle type chains. Good idea to carefully check the chain condition up in the wheel wells, during a pre-flight! To my knowledge, if the pins can’t be rotated, rolling inverted won’t help. You are going to be doing a wheels up landing. Even the emergency blow down system, requires the pins to be rotated by selecting U/C down, before trying the emergency blow down system.

By: World Warbird News

World Warbird News — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 10:57:27 +0000

In reply to David L Siddle.

I would have thought the idea is to roll inverted to unstick the locks but to roll back to a normal position to retract the gear once the locks are unblocked. I could perfectly be wrong on this, as I am not familiar with the system, but it would seem to make more sense than extending the gear in an inverted position.

As for ditching in a lake, I’m not sure that would effectively reduce damage to the airframe and it certainly would put the pilot at an even greater risk.

Again, I’m no authority on the matter, but those are my thoughts and $0.02. 🙂

By: David L Siddle

David L Siddle — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 11:40:59 +0000

I have 2 questions. The operations manual states that the locks holding the gear in the retracted condition may be stuck, and that they may be released by rolling inverted and taking the weight of the gear off the locks, then lowering the gear. Will the gear come down in an inverted position? Also, could damage have been minimized by landing in a nearby lake with the engine off?

By: Seafire SX336 leaves Bondues | World Warbird News

Seafire SX336 leaves Bondues | World Warbird News — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:41:39 +0000

[…] Seafire SX336, which was damaged on July 2 in a wheels-up landing in Bondues, has been dismantled and loaded on a flatbed to return to its home base for repairs. Antoine […]

By: James

James — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:56:29 +0000

Yes Martin you’re quite right, not sure if the Griffon reduction gearbox/engine block housing is similar to the Merlin. I see now it wasn’t clear, my comment was of interest with regard to common Merlin accident damage as such, not about this particular aircraft. Has anyone heard what caused the gear to fail? Later aircraft had a blow down system I think, but as I said in my earlier post above, if the locks won’t rotate, that won’t help.

By: martin

martin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:32:55 +0000

Surely the Seafire’s engine is a Rolls Royce Griffon?

By: Tim Nicholson

Tim Nicholson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:50:38 +0000

Thankyou very much indeed, James – your reply is very informative and I have learnt a lot from you. How sad that despite a wonderful piece of airmanship (airwomanship!) there is such a huge cost in money and time.

By: James

James — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:02:48 +0000

In reply to Tim Nicholson. Yes Tim some interesting questions, SAAF Museum techo's told me that in most Merlins that suffer an impact, cracking occurs in the front of the engine block where it angles up to form the rear part of the reduction gearbox, this is a stress concentration area, in an accident. The reduction gearbox and crank I would think, will have to be examined for shock stress. The carb intake took a beating, so the supercharger will maybe need to be cleaned out from ingested grass/dirt? The prop blades are surprisingly made of wood composite, as they have always been on the later Mks, hence the splintering of the blades. It was a good job, but I'm afraid I think there will be a lot of damage, will cost heaps to fix. A new prop must cost in the region of 100 000 Pounds??

By: Tim Nicholson

Tim Nicholson — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:44:13 +0000

I think Anna did a magnicent job, and the damage appears to be comparatively easy to repair. However, I am interested to know whether there would likely to be any damage to the engine and its reduction gear and what checks would be required assuming there was nothing visible. Also, i am curious to know why the airscrew blades appeared to have snapped off rather than bent as what one might expect. Are they solid?