The takeoff of the spitfires, a wheel is raised first, and later it raises the other wheel, in the takeoff.

[intographics]

Hi everyone,

The takeoff of the spitfires, a wheel is raised first, and later it raises the other wheel, in the takeoff.

Can anybody give me an explanation why?

Thanks in advantage.
Jan Willem de Meijer
The Netherlands

[Sacarino111]

Hi.

I can't give you a perfect explanation on why does this happen, but it is something quite comon to see in documentarys and videos, so I guess it is a feature, not a bug.

Saludos.

Saca111

Spain.

[intographics]

Hi,
 

 

[Nightdare]

It was to confuse the Germans, letting them think the aircraft was slapped together in a hurry and would perform badly 

 

Now I nevere dived into it, so don't quote me on this

The pump is probably not (made) powerful enough (for power and size/weight reasons probably) to retract both wheels at the same time, so the system runs 'in sequence'

allowing all power to one, then all power to the other, instead of half power to both, benefit would be that there is more power available to overcome resistance for each leg

 

Then again, it could simply be the hydraulics following the path of least resistance

 

 

[Roc123]

But yeah, you're right, diving deep into the engineering nitty-gritty probably wasn't their main goal. My guess is the sequential retraction is more about efficiency. Like you said, one leg at a time might get more oomph from the pump compared to splitting the power. Or maybe it's just like water finding its downhill path – the hydraulics just do what's easiest for them.