for a Whistling Wheelbarrow to take off it needed to get to flying speed while still on the runway and then simply retract the undercarriage! Anyone know how true this is?
The last time I encountered an Argosy it was operated by an outfit called "SafeAir" and it arrived at Brunei International just before Chinese New Year with a cargo of fresh fruit and vegetables from Singapore. (The Chinese are very particualr about their food being as fresh as possible - and especially so for the reunion dinner). The skipper got down and put a stop to any unloading before stomping off to Air Cargo (what other kind would we have at an airport?) to demand that the entire cargo be weighed.
Talking to the Engineer, it seems that they started their T/O run at Seletar and rolled on and on and on. The aircraft simply refused to fly. They rolled off the end of the runway at well above the calculated take-off speed and just flew straight ahead, a few feet above the water, while they got the gear up. Once the aircraft was "clean" it built up speed with a slow turn to starboard to head down the Straits past Changi, climbing very slowly. Fortunately there were no large ships in the way.
Since the aircraft was clearly too heavy to land safely and was now flying more or less properly, they flew on the Brunei, where the load was found to be more than double the declared weight! The aircraft would have been above the Military Operations weight of 105,000+ pounds quoted earlier. Not bad for a flying wheelbarrow.