Inverted Gull Wing
The inverted gull wing was developed at the same time and for the same reason as seaplanes. More powerful engines generally require larger propellers, but clearance between the propeller tip and ground must be maintained. Long landing gear legs are heavy, bulky, and weaker than their shorter counterparts. The Vought F4U Corsair, designed from the onset as a carrier-based fighter, not only had the largest propeller of any U.S. fighter, but was also expected to face rough landings aboard a pitching carrier deck. The inverted gull wing allowed the landing gear to be short, tough, and to retract straight back, improving internal wing space. Another reason for having an inverted gull wing is to facilitate a large external bomb load, as in the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka.
Examples:
- Aichi B7A
- Junkers Ju-87 Stuka
- Vought F4U Corsair
Read more about this topic: Gull Wing
Famous quotes containing the words inverted, gull and/or wing:
“Ulysses ... is a dogged attempt to cover the universe with mud, an inverted Victorianism, an attempt to make crossness and dirt succeed where sweetness and light failed, a simplification of the human character in the interests of Hell.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“but what can be done gull gull when you turn the sun
on again, a dead fruit
and all that flies today
is crooked and vain and has been cut from a book.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“the uncomfortable angels that rot
On the slabs, a wing chipped here, an arm there:
The brute curiosity of an angel’s stare
Turns you, like them, to stone....”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)