Mystery tyre. Possibly Walrus?

I thank all of you that have participated in this thread so far.

WP, I´ve already got a thread running over on WIX regarding this tire, but so far nothing has been confirmed.

As it’s American, maybe a post on WIX might get an answer…?

Mosquito had 8.00-5 on the tail, OD was 18.85 inches, apparently. Maybe??

Always a non-shimmy tyre on the Mozzie, IIRC. The kind that looks like it has a deep groove around the circumference. So not one of them.

Don’t think Boston is likely, without measuring it, Hudson tailwheel seems more likely, but it depends how much it could ‘doughnut’ on inflation?

A-20 nose tire was 26″ SC

Mosquito had 8.00-5 on the tail, OD was 18.85 inches, apparently. Maybe???

Doesn’t fit with the 127A reference, though.

Re the Walrus as a land plane. I can remember as a kid hanging over the fence at Hawkinge watching the ASR Walruses lumbering about, just like the real thing on land.

A20 Boston/Havoc nose tire
cheers dave

Seems to have a different rim ??
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/A-20_Havoc.jpg

I thought most beaching gear used ground equipment road wheels and tyres.
John

i know thats the case on the restored items i have seen. The tack i was taking is that the tyre is very narrow indeed. Now that needs us to cast our net wider…I was wondering how a non amphibian Cat could get ashore per se.

Anyway, with that discounted, it makes me think about other types using Sumburgh during the war. We should not lose fact that RAF aircraft could use tyres from the US (if short)….a bit like my He111 tailwheel with its Dunlop tyre!

At Sumburgh, they used Dragon Rapides for comms flights, airlines for mail runs and sometimes a HP Sparrow

A20 Boston/Havoc nose tire

cheers dave

I thought most beaching gear used ground equipment road wheels and tyres.
John

Tony,
Thanks for taking the time to check this. We had actually checked the Catalina beaching gear idea, but discounted it.

The wall thickness of the tire is very thin, so in my mind it might be possible that it would inflate to a shape like that of the Hudson photo posted earlier. Other than that, I´ve no idea

something like this:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e242/hkins/Sunderland/BeachingCradlecopy.jpg

originally they would be GSE and supplied by the manufacturer

originally I thought it might be Catalina nose wheel, but the width is a tad thin!!

The tyres tend to be extremely rigid, so when inflated, unlikely to be hugely wider.

RAF Sumburgh did not have many types serving there that could fit the bill, well I cannot find residents that fit the bill. I did wonder whether it might be from a beaching trolley (The sunderland used dual wheel beaching trolleys), sometime Cats would use them too.

The Icelandic tail wheel isn’t inflated! The Hudson wheel shewn has a similar narrow contact area.

John

This Hudson tailwheel seems to be thicker
http://www.cybermodeler.net/aircraft/hudson/images/rafm_hudson_23.jpg

Air Ministry,
Thank you very much for this information!

For some stupid reason, I´d not thought about something like the Hudson!

Painted on the tire with fading white paint is the following:
RAF SUMBURGH
127A/HEY/22545
2.12.42

127A would be the Stores Reference prefix. In this case it indicates American wheel equipment (the British equivalent being 27A).

So, you’re looking for a U.S. built aeroplane, in service with the R.A.F. in 1942, with tyres of that size. Your photos make it fairly obvious we are looking at a tail wheel tyre.

How about Hudson? A quick glance at photos on the net suggests that the tail wheel was of that size and I’m guessing that many would have been stationed in that part of the world during the war.

Since I´ve busted the collective brains of the forum I need advice about how to proceed. Where do you think I can get some info about this tire?

Well, after Air Ministry´s excellent input, it looks like I can forget all about this being a Walrus tire!

As promised, I went to the hangar today to take some pictures.

This is how the offending tire looks like:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d22/Galdri/006-1.jpg

The tire is approximately 3 inches wide
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d22/Galdri/009-3.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d22/Galdri/005-4.jpg

The hight of the tire is about 18 inches:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d22/Galdri/002-1.jpg

The rim would have been about 5+ inches
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d22/Galdri/003-3.jpg

I truly do not know what this is from.

Quote from AP 1515A, Volume I:-

Wheels
118. Dunlop type (A.H.2074) or Palmer type (No. 495/B) are fitted to the undercarriage, the former, fitted with roller bearings, being interchangeable with the latter, fitted with plain bearings, independent of the the type of brake unit fitted (see para. 111). The Dunlop wheels, 19.0in. x 3-12in. width rims, and the Palmer wheels, 19 1/16 in. x 3 3/4 in. width rims, are both fitted with high-pressure tyres 8 in. x 19 in. and 895 mm. x 200 mm. respectively.

The tyre was illustrated in another thread some while ago:-

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1371761&highlight=walrus+wheel#post1371761

I think it might be from Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra….:eek:

Call TIGHAR. They will know.