They just have to come to the Cellar archives. :D

Nice cut-away of the Gee Bee R-2.

Love it!

Given that the pilot would have such a poor view of the runway, I bet landings were tricky to say the least!
How on earth would you manage a final approach and landing?
Side slip it in and kick it straight at the last moment?

It's an extremely hard to fly plane, but it was fast and could do maneuvers nobody else could, which is why it won races. One guy who actually flew one said todays high tech fighter pilots would take to it right away. And yes, one pilot was killed when he botched the landing.

Well he hit the center line. WTF are they pulling down on wings for? Relive stress?

With just center wheels, when he stops the plane will tip one way or the other. They're pulling down the high side to lift the low side wing enough to deploy the outrigger dollies on the wing.

Hell I knew that :bolt:

so. to take off it starts with the dollies and then ejects them when airborne?

how extravagantly impractical

They are reused when the plane comes back, and if it doesn't come back, it won't need them. Having retractable wheels on the wings would be too heavy, and fixed wheels too much drag, so there isn't really an alternative.

more here

The Granville Brothers (post77) built a race car too.

Thanks for posting the U2 video, Grav.

I suppose that it's human nature, up to a point, to be curious about things that you're not supposed to know about. For that reason the U2 has always been a source of considerable interest.

Strange to relate, but I have here a facsimile copy of the pilot's notes for the U2. A little light reading, you understand. :blush:

U-2 Flight Manual: Models U-2C and U-2F Aircraft

Gravity assists, except when....

http://s7.postimg.org/4qopamvej/img2...5_11180595.png

There's nothing worse than a hung pogo. :)

Scanned from the above mentioned manual.