I was taught wing down by the Canadians on the Harvard. Then, when returned to the RAF and flying Vampires, the old CFS technique of kick off drift was insisted on. When, subsequently, I became a tp and was involved in extensive landing trials on a number of types large and small, I tried both techniques for comparative handling assessments. The result was conclusive, wing down has it everytime unless the aircraft geometry precludes; and there are precious few that do. (B52, and that has a crabbing gear) and most underslung 4 jets. Opponents are sure that wing tips are vulnerable. But, if you measure the angle between the dangled gear and the adjacent wing tip, it is far, far greater than any sideslip bank angle you can reasonably achieve. Advantages are that it is much easier to judge the landing and, very importantly in a strong X wind, you touch down with the control deflections required for the roll-out already applied and not a blur of arms and leg as with the kick off drift. This was particularly useful on a well known WW2 bomber which could be a pig in a X wind, but 3 pointed with wing down, was pussy cat. Furthermore, got the PC9 prototype up to 35 kts with no trouble at all. I'm sold on it and do tend to preach a bit. As a flying instructor, I found it much easier to teach too.
Great post pontifex, very informative
