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It hurts just looking at the photos.
“Axle support rod” on an RV-4??
It looks like the weld had been cracked for quite awhile.
Sorry to see this.
Is the report correct, it lists the plane as a RV-4 Retractable gear tailwheel.
If you do an image search on the accident plane’s N-Number (N66PB) you’ll see what is, indeed, a retractable-gear RV-4.
I believe the aircraft was originally built in Canada; I shot of picture of it with Canadian registration back in the ’90s. One of the photos on the online search shows the airplane with the US registration number, though, by the time the accident occurred, it apparently had been repainted.
Might explain the “axle support rod,” too….
That makes it more sad. Such a rare and cool bird.
And I agree, I think that probably explains the axle support rod.
https://vansairforce.net/threads/retractable-rv-4.169862/
Looks like it failed where the oleo cylinder mounts to the fork? Overload failure, sure, but the visible welds at the top of the photo sure don’t look like they had complete root penetration to the strut tube mounting boss, and they’re a bit discolored. Do RV4 RGs use repurposed, professionally fabricated MLG assemblies or are the forks DIY fabrications?
I believe the retract system was a one-of, not a commercial product. One report online said that the performance increase wasn’t that much.