Tyres

[stona]

You get the same 'scrubbing' on WW2 aircraft tyres. It tends to be more pronounced on aircraft operated from made surfaces, but some unmade can be quite abrasive too. Of course even smooth tyres do pick up muck, they just tend not to become encrusted in the same way as a treaded tyre which is obvious really! A lot of German tyres were a sort of 'intermediate', grooved but not really treaded. Theres a great film somewhere of some Fw 190s taking off from an almost flooded air strip which makes the mind boggle.


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Even taxying on soaked grass could attract some muck. This is one of my favourites. The aircraft is pristine, but the tyres!


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A little common sense is all it needs.An aircraft operating from a desert strip in Libya is unlikely to have muddy tyres, just a dusting of sand/dust. One operating from a forward airfield in the Russian autumn/winter (or any time of year in Britain) may well do


Cheers


Steve

[rickoshea52]

I've done A/F's on Puma's and Chinooks with big dollops of mud and "farm by-products" encasing the wheels and Sea Kings with snow covering the wheels and half filling the gear compartments. You're' right Steve, close attention to the operating environment is the key.


One of the certification requirements for new aircraft is the waterlogged runway test. In the case of A380 the harness brackets around the gear were originally light alloy sheet metal bent and riveted together, when the aircraft hurtled through standing water they acted like scoops and ripped off! Back to the drawing board for the eggheads.

[stona]

You will see Fw 190s operated from less than ideal strips which have had the lower part of the main gear covers removed. Apparently snow/ice/mud could accumulate and prevent the doors closing properly which also prevented the tail wheel retracting due to the way the system worked.


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The brake lines look very exposed, but this must have been the lesser of two evils.


Cheers


Steve

[rickoshea52]

What was the purpose of the straw in the german picture- snow and ice protection or camouflage?

[Guest]

What straw ?

[Guest]

Just my opinion I think it's to stop the mud and it's camo

[Alan 45]

IT depends on the tyre, modern sports car I would use a matt silk black with a dry brush of dust grey on the tread , worn tyre like on a jeep matt black with a light dry brush of dust grey on the wals but not into the trim and a heavy dust grey on the tread , aircraft a very dark grey matt with a heavy dry brush of dust grey on the tread

[stona]

What was the purpose of the straw in the german picture- snow and ice protection or camouflage?

The photograph was taken in the summer of 1940. The aircraft has back armour, an armoured windscreen and cannon armament. The soil is chalky and may well be be France. The trees in the background are in full leaf. Given the place and time of year I can only assume that the straw was being used in an effort to camouflage the aircraft.


Cheers


Steve

[rickoshea52]

I saw the white stuff and thought it must be snow. My neighbour used straw for frost protection in his garden hence the assumption.

[stona]

I saw the white stuff and thought it must be snow. My neighbour used straw for frost protection in his garden hence the assumption.

Quite reasonable! JG 26 was a late adopter of all the fuselage mottling and yellow tactical markings. It was still flying aircraft with the high camouflage demarcation and without yellow noses/rudders at least until the end of August 1940. I've got a nice picture of Lt. Wilhelm Fronhofer's E-4 which crash landed not far from Ashford on 31st August 1940, following a losing encounter with Spitfires, and it looks just as it would have in May! This time it is the British who have partially covered it in straw in an attempt at camouflage. I'd have to check to see when most of it's aircraft started to be altered, but by the winter they certainly were.


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Cheers


Steve