172B The 172B was introduced in late 1960 as the 1961 model and featured a shorter landing gear, engine mounts lengthened three inches (76 mm), a reshaped cowling, and a pointed propeller spinner.For the first time, the "Skyhawk" name was applied to an available deluxe option package.
Thank you Fantome for pointing out my typing mistake. !!
I have corrected it.
P.S. "Ruin" is too harsh. Render unappealing to the tail-dragger fraternity, maybe?
Naw , I'll stick with my use of the word ruin as that best describes what putting a nose wheel on a tail wheel airplane does.
And Yeh, I guess I am of the tail-dragger fraternity because those things first learned are those things best remembered.
Been thinking about all the different airplanes I flew over the years and there is only one nose wheel that I can recall that I genuinely liked to fly and that is the Turbo Commander 690B.
Douglas did the same thing with the DC3....put a nose wheel on their next airplane and ruined it.
The DC3 was awesome as an off airport airplane I flew them off everything from eskers, snow, ice to sand beaches way way up in the high Arctic.....
......wouldn't even dream of flying a DC4 or DC6 off the same unprepared surfaces the 3 could operate. ( I have flown the DC6 off ice strips though. )