Mmmmm ...
Geoffers .... with respect
.... there would have been nothing in that aircrafts 'Flight Manual' to do with the removing of the tailwheel ... THAT would have been a maintenance/Engineering issue and I suspect that the maintenance manual said nothing about NOT REMOVING the assy. either.
I can see what point you are trying to make ... BUT as you know aviation safety has by and large been improved by the 'generating of f**kups' that people have then discussed and found the answers to ....
And as far as the law (in aviation) is concerned whilst you can be just as easily damned if you don't ... you can also be damned if you do ....
OR just possibly praised for NOT doing exactly by the book ... as Capt. Chesley Sullenberger discovered ...