Originally Posted by
deatonbt
I found the following info on the tail wheel retraction problems in "Focke-Wulf Ta 152 The Story of the Luftwaffe's Late-War, High-Altitude Fighter" by Dietmar Harmann; ISBN
0-7643-0860-2.
In a report from front line unit III/JG 301 it is mentioned that there are problems with retracting the tail wheel. The cause is unkown, but the load on the hydraulics could be to high. Also, the rollers on the retracting mechanism were jumping out of the tracks.
Brian
i highly doubt the load on the hydraulics was the problem, this would of been accounted for in the design of the hyd. System.
But, the way the tailwheel retraction cable on the Ta-152 is done would be very problematic if any twisting if the roller was encountered or the tracks were incorrectly spaced which would allow the roller to pop out.
The Jg301 account was fairly early in the 152's service life snd no other commention is made about tailwheel retraction issues, so it is possible it could have been fixed. Honestly, their are more questions than answers when it comes to many late way German aircraft, which allows us to do what we expect based on known documents.