He111 P gear problem

[Stealthy]

You need to pull up your gear at a slower speed. I try to do it soon as my wheels are off the ground so I don't have to worry about it.

[Kupsised]

Ahh, thanks for the advice. I had heard that, but I do the same (pulling it up straight away) and that problem was still happening. Obviously I'm just accelerating faster than I thought.

Thanks again, I'll go give it a try

Edit: Yep, that seems to have solved it, but the right wheel is still much much slower to retract than the left, but I guess that's how it is. Thanks again

[Blackdog_kt]

For many of these aircraft weight considerations were an issue (engines were weaker and subsystems were heavier back then). My guess is that they couldn't install a hydraulic pump big enough to retract both wheels simultaneously and that's why they retract in sequence, not enough hydraulic pressure.

By the way this happens in many aircraft, not just the 111, plus it's easy to observe in wartime films that this behavior was fairly common for a lot of types.

That being said, i don't know if it applies to restored warbirds at airshows since many of them now have upgraded internal systems to conform with civil aviation standards, so watching a clip from a present day airshow might not exhibit the same traits. Hope it helps

[Kupsised]

Thanks Blackdog, I had seen that before although I think you're right that airshows these days do give a bit of a skewed perpective. It was just interesting that both wheels start at almost the same time, both reach about three quaters of the way at almost the same time, but then the right carries on whilst the left goes so slow it's barely noticable it's even moving. It almost does seem then that the left wheel seems to eat all the hydrolic power at that point.

I suppose it might have something to do with the power needed to close the bay doors as the left wheel does slow down some at that point, although keeps moving much faster than the right, almost like some power is being drained to hold the right in place whilst the left finishes retracting and then the left retracts so slowly afterwards because of drag coupled with the lost momentum making it difficult to get movement restarted.

On the other hand, I just came up with all that off the top of my head and don't really know a whole lot about these things, so it could be totally wrong, but it makes sense in my mind