Landing gear - stupid question...

At 02:00 02 December 2005, Nyal Williams wrote:
No one commented that these three-wheeled, inline wheels
gliders, no matter how efficient they are, allow retraction
of the main gear only. The nose wheel as well as the
tail wheel stays down.

The relatively small nose and tail wheels contribute
very little in the way of extra drag, so it is not
generally worth the extra mechanical complications
of making them retractable. The much larger main wheel
with its supporting struts is quite draggy and therefore
worth retracting.

However the Slingsby Vega had a retracting tailwheel
and I understand the new LS11 has a retracting nosewheel,
so sailplane designers haven't totally overlooked the
possibility.

Derek Copeland