Noramair.com

[aleffert]

I have this calendar on my desk and everyday it has a new picture of a airplane with some information about the aircraft.

Well today it has a picture of a "Bellanca" aircraft and in the description it says that the aircraft came with "jettisonable landing gear to reduce drag".

Now maybe it's just my thinking but what good is the landing gear if you jettison it Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the "landing gear" to land

So I was wondering, if you jettisoned the landing gear after takeoff to reduce the drag, how would you land It doesn't look like it could land in water.

Anyone got any ideas
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Andrew
VNW-373

It's All About "Suck, Squeeze, Bang, and Blow"-Paul

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." ~ Voltaire

[ricktk]

Well, do not know much about it, and what Bellanca model was it?

I remember the German Luftwaffe had a rocket recon aircraft the Arado Ar 234A that was skided, and had a wheeled auxillary chassis, that was jetisoned on takeoff. Eventually they built the B version that had undercarriage, and then the C which had 4 jets engines instead of two.
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Rick
VNWA-002

"Buttons . . . check. Dials . . . check. Switches . . . check. Little colored lights . . . check."

[Goose]

Unrefueled endurance record - May 28, 1931 - Bellanca with Packard DR-980 diesel engine flew for 84h:32m without landing for fuel, a record that has never been broken.

Obviously it was a mod used to improve performance and break records and probably not an option the manufacturer used to sell the aircraft.

As for the record, I really haven't looked around to see if this is a legit one or not, but obviously the aircraft was real.