Quote:
Originally Posted by lion737
Luftwaffe pilots were NOT allowed to land with gear extended on "unapproved" fields. That means, when they had to do an emergency landing ("Außenlandung" - outside aerodrome) , they had to do it with gear up ! (and engine off).
The reason: It was much to easy to go nose over. The plane and often the pilot as well would have been lost. After landing on the undercarriage (with engine shut) the repair was quite easy and the pilot survived often without injury.
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The 109 had a notorious problem of snapped legs.
The strut was not only small, but it was at an angle, so it had a lot of side loads, and snaps.
Spitfire I think suffered snaps, but the Hurricane was solid.
Off top of my head, it is rarely mentioned in books.