PPT Slide
With its initial single-wheel main landing gear, the 265,000 pound gross weight XB-36 could land at only 3 airfields in the entire United States!
“The track on the main landing gear is designed for a maximum average of 57 pounds pressure per square inch on the landing strip, as compared to a pressure of 156 pounds per square inch exerted by the conventional wheel-type gear on a B-36 at the same gross weight.”
Washington, D.C. April 12, 1950.
www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/bombers/b3-69.htm
BOTTOM LINE: tracks can reduce ground pressure over wheels by 2/3ds!
Tracked XB-36 on grassy field!