Jerry Eichenberger
Serious Thumper
   
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2006 S40. OEM windshield, saddle bags, Sportster
Posts: 2919
Columbus, Ohio
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I know very little about the "pre-rotators" that were experimented with in the WW II and post war years on large aircraft.
What I do know is that the experiments were discontinued because the added cost and complexity weren't worth the minor savings in tire wear.
Airplane tires have a very short life. In the 1950s, as jets came into being, with landing speeds in excess of 150 mph, and with still more primitive tire compounds of that era, some airplanes were only getting about 15 landings per tire change.
The issue is that when an airplanes lands, its tires have to speed up from zero to whatever the landing speed is in a fractional of a heartbeat. That scrubs a tremendous amount of rubber off of the tire. If you ever look at a runway, you can see what look like skid marks are the ends of the runway - this is the rubber that has been scrubbed off during each landing. Even today, runways are routinely closed now and then for a day's worth of rubber removal from the pavement.
But as tire compound science developed, tire wear rates were significantly reduced, so the idea of having a device to get the tires rotating before landing just wasn't worth the added cost and complexity. But I know of no control difficulties found during those experiments, but they may have been there - I just don't know.
Also, back when airplanes routinely landed on grass runways, the problem was no where nearly as big, because a tire will actually "scoot" or slide some on the grass, since grass has far less friction than pavement, and the tires could come up to speed over a longer period of time with far less scrubbing of the tread. Of course, nowadays, only the smallest of light airplanes still routinely use grass.
As for pitching baseball curves, sliders, etc. is has a lot more to do with the areodynamics of a baseball and how the balls rotates leaving the pitcher's hand. We have a doc at our airport who used to be a pitching scout for the NY Yankees. He gives a wonderful talk to flying groups about the aerodynamics of pitching and his story weaves together aerodynamics with athletic prowess. As he waves his hand around, it's really neat to see how big a World Series championship ring is.
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