I-153 main gear question for tech savvies here

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

yup, I think it's all in the angle of the hinges as Kodoss suggests. Probably not the more robust design ever, but considering the weight of the Chaika, it surely does the job in a nifty and effective way. Was it operated by a hand crank like in the I-16?

Wiki claims it was manual but the Pacific WINGS Magazine article quoted below (by Tom Middleton from New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum) claims it was pneumatic. I am inclined to believe Middleton. If nothing else, how on earth would they get a crank into that miniscule cockpit.

http://akawardogs.net/AKAforum/index.php?topic=1606.0

Take-off is exciting with plenty of right foot required against the torque and slipstream at maximum power and with such poor visibility behind the big round nose it feels like charging along a runway behind a block of flats. The engine noise is very loud even with earplugs, the tail must be helped up to the climbing attitude and the Chaika must be kept straight.

Lift-off occurs at about 110 kph and instead of winding the undercarriage up as with the I-16 this undercarriage is raised pneumatically with a small lever near the left knee. As with the Yak-3, activation is accompanied by a very loud hissing noise clearly heard over the engine at full power.

[McHilt]

Iirc in Il-2 it was manually operated (don't know if one can consider that the most reliable source though), however an airshow movie on YT shows a chaika taking off... you can see the gear retracting very quickly which might suggest it was indeed operated pneumatically (if the bird is restored in original configuration that is).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BLVI2yBRX8

btw you gotta love the sound of that radial engine

[brando]

No Mac, in IL-2 the Chaika gear comes up with a single 'key-press' - it's the Rata that has the manual gear.

[McHilt]

I see, it's been a long time playing '46. Thanks for clarifying...