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SHroblems stemming from design or materiel
JS. One such problem was a B-57D aircraft landing gear failure.
The
pilots of two separate B-57D aircraft experienced difficulties inflight,
in extending the nose gear to "down and locked" position.
of ote aircraft collapsed upon landing.
The nose gear
Inspection revealed cracks in
the barrel of the nose gear actuator, resulting in a loss of hydraulic
fluid.
At this time.all B-57D aircraft were grounded except for actual
cloud sampling missions.
An emergency unsatisfactory report was sub-—
mitted to WRAMA and four (4) spare actuators and three (3) actuators
removed from aircraft were flown to NAMAP, Tachikawa Air Base, Japan
for Depot Inspection.
The depot inspection detected cracks in three (3)
of the seven (7) units tested.
NAMAP provided depot inspected replacement ;
actuators for the B~57D aircraft, permitting the limited flying status
to be rescinded.
Additional depot tested units were expeditiously pro-
cured from WRAMA to replace the B-57B actuators.
Later, a similar
deficiency was fourd to exist in the B-57B&D main gear actuators.
An
energency Unsatisfactory Report was submitted to WRAMA ard concurrent
crash action taken to procure depot inspected replacement actuators.
The
replacements items were received and installed expeditiously.
The other problem involved SA-16 aircraft of the SAR Element.
Two
(2) SA-16 aircraft developed extensive hull damage that was beyond our
capability to repair.
facilities.
These aircraft were evacuated to depot repair
The damage consisted of hull wrinkling in the bow below
the pilot compartment.
One (1) aircraft was evacuated %to a depot
repair facility and replaced.
The other aircraft was evacuated to SAMAP
for renair and return to the EPG.
The water landings at near maximm
gross lardirg weight and the long down wind take off distances, peculiar to
some islard sites contributed to the wrinkling of the hulls.
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AFWL/HO
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