Concorde Water Deflectors
The water deflectors were required for certification, owing to the proximity of the main U/C to the engine intakes. I remember seeing a video many moons ago, showing the certification trials for the deflectors, performed at Fairford (circa 1973) and using the FRENCH pre-production aircraft 201 (F-WTSB). The A/C did a series of high speed passes through a huge water trough that had been placed on the on the runway. In the 'before' shots you could see massive plumes of water entereing the intakes, causing quite interesting and visible surging of the engines, whereas the 'after' shots, the plume of water very neatly missed the intakes altogether. After the final BA tyre burst/wing damage incident in 1993, a modification was emodied TO THE BRITISH AIRCRAFT ONLY, fitting a retaining cord through the centre of the main gear deflectors; if a tyre burst occured, the deflector would ostensibly stay in one lump, causing no airframe damage at all; it worked perfectly, there was NEVER another case of a British aircraft sustaining skin penetration due to a tyre burst.
The design of the water deflectors was simple but brilliant, in terms of the differnce it could make to the path of heavy runway water. (The nosewheel also had a deflector fitted, with the addition of two small 'shredder' blades; if a nosewheel punctured at high speed, the blades would neatly shred and divert the rubber straight down the runway behind the A/C, well away from the engines. I have no personal recollection of this ever occuring during airline service).
(My first post for several days, some interesting posts since though, oh and LOVE the photo).
Last edited by M2dude; 12th Feb 2010 at 10:49.
Reason: typos