He-219: nosewheel steerable or not?

[Stephan Wilkinson]

I have for some time now assumed that the Uhu had a steerable nosewheel, which would have been very unusual among WWII aircraft; almost all were free-castering in answer to brake or differential throttle application. Many references I've read claimed that a steerable nosewheel was a noteworthy feature of the He-219.

However, having just finished reading the extensive Murawski/Rys monograph "Heinkel He-219 Uhu," it goes into some detail about nosewheel problems early in the airplane's testing, when the nose gear extended with the wheel cocked at a 45-degree angle that could not be corrected despite several attempts at retracting and re-extending it. A number of times, He-219s landed with the nosewheel at an angle, which cause substantial vibration.

This sounds to me like a free-castering rather than steerable nosewheel. Which is correct?

Apologies for the numerous He-219 questions posted recently. I'm preparing a cover story on the airplane for the U. S. magazine Aviation History, of which I am a Contributing Editor.

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Stephan,

Interesting question and after studying Heinkel documents and technical drawings, I am convinced that the nosewheel was not steerable. The misunderstanding may be the result of the fact that the nosewheel had to make a turn of 90 degrees, so that it could fold into the nosewheel bay under the cockpit section.

All the best,

Marcel Hogenhuis

[piero]

Sorry Marcel,
but some foto's of parked aircrafts confirm thath the noseweel was STEERABLE.
HTH
Giampiero Piva

[PhilippeDM]

Giampierro,

I agree that the nose wheel was movable, but this implies not there was some kind of powered steering mechanism, controllable by the pilot in another way than changing the engines regime and moving the rudders...

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Dear Philippe,

That is exactly what I meant to say: many photo's of parked He219 show nose wheels in a turn. Somehow it must have been able to fix the nose wheel in line with the fuselage to prevent a break out during starts and landings, but as far as I know the pilot could not actively steer the wheel during taxiing on the ground.

Best regards, Marcel

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Actually,this was a big problem early in the He-219's career. During a number of test flights, the nosewheel extended cocked approximately 45 degrees, and the pilot, unable to do anything about it, had to land this way. Much vibration and scrubbing ensued.

This was what gave me the hint that the nosewheel was not steerable.

[Tony Kambic]

From what I can see and understand from the documentation, the nose wheel fork was sustained in an inline position with a pressure spring and there was stop that prevented it from going beyond 60 degrees left or right when extended. When it retracted it did go the full 90 with some type of mechanism that superceded the extended gear spring and stop.

The Ar234 had a similar spring mechanism that aligned the nose gear forward, although it could twist a full 360 degrees.

Tony