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Old 01-27-2013, 07:02 AM
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abufletcher
 
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Default RE: Toe-in or toe-out on a warbird?

Just to be clear here. Toe-in and toe-out refer to the wheels being convergent and divergent (rather than parallel) relative to the direction of travel, yes? What is it called, then, if the wheels are convergent ("splayed out" on the bottom) or divergent ("splayed out at the top") perpendicular to the ground? This was the case with the undercarriage geometry on several WWI aircraft, two examples, being the Fokker EIII and Sopwith Camel. Many of the Sopwith aircraft used a split axle with "independent suspension" and when sitting on the ground, the wheel have an awkward splayed out at the bottom "broken axle" appearance. With the EIII the UC geometry normal held the wheels below the UC center post so they would "splayed out at the top" when not under full compression (as for example on a landing).

Anyway, I've never used toe-in or toe-out (as described above) on any WWI model, but many of them (most of them?) end up having some degree of the situation I've described here.