4.12 development update discussion and feedback

[Buster_Dee]

Bruce Carr was shot down in his P51, hid in a forest, stole a Fw190 from a nearby German airfield, and raced back to his base, figuring out the airplane as he went. Two days after bellying it in (and suffering his AA gunners' attention), a friend pulled on one of the "unexplained" controls, whereby the landing gear dropped down.

I know, pointless. But it's still funny.

The Fw190 landing gear, being electric, isn't going to "drop" unless the uplock is unlocked (a separate control Carr didn't know about) and the electric motor's gearbox is somehow damaged. The uplock is only needed for such a situation as the gear is otherwise quite immobile with power off. It might be that battle damage could short some circuits resulting in motoring an individual leg down, but the uplock would also have to be similarly damaged or previously unlocked.

(I've had to deal with some bizarre intermittent electrical problems on planes that resulted from somebody inadvertently running a drill bit into a wire bundle - lol. One had a DC-10 grounded for a week.)

Also, as the right leg moves the tailwheel moves as the two are cabled together, there being no separate tailwheel actuator.


Just doing my part to help build a potentially record setting thread.

[Buster_Dee]

zipper, Carr had figured out how to raise and lower the flaps. When he found the button to raise the gear, he assumed its mate was the lowering button. On final, he tried that button twice unsuccessfully. After a couple of days, he calmed down enough to take some friends to the wreck. One of them pulled on the lock and released the gear. What Carr meant by "drop," I don't know. Maybe it just dropped half an inch from backlash and made a sound. I used to think he meant to the ground until I read these forum comments. I think to model this well, various reactions to damage would be needed, and it would take several dedicated hit boxes. I don't know if there is a limit for hit boxes.

[Asheshouse]

Originally Posted by Buster_Dee

Bruce Carr was shot down in his P51, hid in a forest, stole a Fw190 from a nearby German airfield, and raced back to his base, figuring out the airplane as he went. Two days after bellying it in (and suffering his AA gunners' attention), a friend pulled on one of the "unexplained" controls, whereby the landing gear dropped down.

I know, pointless. But it's still funny.

An amazing story -- but

The true story

from historian Steve Sheflin
The story of Bruce Carr “stealing” an Fw 190 and escaping from behind enemy lines is patently untrue. In AIRFOIL #2 , Steve Blake and I published a short article debunking this apocryphal story. As part of his research, Steve Blake spoke to Col. Felix Kozaczka, one of Carr’s wingmen, who was present during the flight and belly landing. Kozaczka told him in no uncertain terms that the more lurid aspects of this story never occurred.
Like many pilots after the war, Carr wanted to fly a German plane. Carr hitchhiked to Linz, Austria, where he chose the now-well-known Fw 190 A-6/A-8 hybrid, “31+ ~ Red” for his mount. After flying back to Ansbach with an escort of 354th FG P-51s, Carr couldn’t get the 190’s gear down and was forced to belly land it on the grass at Ansbach.
Post-crash photos of Carr show him walking around unhurt and wearing a neat, clean uniform—hardly the look of someone who had just evaded capture and flown a stolen Focke-Wulf to freedom.
I can’t believe that this story won’t just die and go away. Heroes like Bruce Carr don’t deserve to be tarred with lurid tales like this. Their real-life experiences should be more than enough for anyone.
Steve Sheflin