Bicycle Landing Gears

A Compact and Lightweight Configuration

Westly Davidson – Skynetics
V0.2 – Mar 2025

The Bicycle Landing Gear

The bicycle landing gear configuration consists of two main structural landing gears arranged in line with the aircraft’s fuselage, forming a tandem arrangement. There are a number of benefits of this arrangement and a number of excellent aircraft examples. For classification purposes, some aircraft feature a single main wheel with a small secondary tail wheel; however, since the tail wheel primarily to provide stability while the main wheel bears most of the ground load, these are categorized separately as uni-cycle arrangements.

Design Considerations

This configuration is generally preferred for aircraft with long and/or narrow fuselages, as it helps satisfy packaging constraints and improves the distribution of ground loads. It is particularly beneficial for long aircraft where traditional tricycle landing gear configurations may not be optimal.

Due to the inline arrangement, outrigger wheels are typically required for stability. These are usually mounted at the wingtips or on wing-mounted engine nacelles.  This presents challenges for ground handling, and taxiing manoeuvres can place significant loads on these outrigger wheels, potentially stressing wing structures.

Historical Use and Examples

The bicycle landing gear system was widely explored between the 1950s and 1970s, particularly at the start of the jet era when specific design considerations favoured this arrangement. Several of the example below have the characteristic long narrow fuselage, but also engine location meant that packaging a tri-cycle arrangement would have been problematic.

Below are notable examples of aircraft featuring bicycle landing gear, categorized by Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) and wheel configuration.

Lightweight Aircraft and Gliders

Many gliders (both powered and unpowered) and small single-passenger recreational aircraft use a similar landing gear arrangement. Typically, they have a single main gear with a tail wheel, which classifies them more accurately as uni-cycle landing gears.

Examples of Bicycle Landing Gear Configurations

Mid-sized Jets – Three Tyres – 14’000 to 20’000kg

Both the Soviet Yak-25 and British Harrier aircraft feature a single-wheel front, a dual-wheel rear LG with outrigger wheels. Although the reason for this Landing gear arrangements are for different reasons:

• Yak-25 (1952): With an MTOW of ~17,000 kg, the bicycle arrangement is best suited to the narrow fuselage and underwing mounted engines. Wing-tip outrigger are used.
• Harrier (1967): For this VTOL aircraft (MTOW ~14,000 kg) the bi-cycle arrangement has several benefits. Firstly, the wings are mounted at the top of the fuselage and engine vents for vectoring thurst in hovered flight mean that a tri-cycle landing gear would be difficult to package. Also, for landing stability this configuration creates a larger diamond-shaped configuration, in comparison to a tri-cycles’ smaller triangle zone. The configuration was also adopted by  several other experimental jet VTOL aircraft (VAK 191b, Yak-36, Bell Eagle Eye).

Mid-Sized jets  – Four Tyres – 20’000 to 45’000kg

In this higher weight category, the structures are composed for two dual-wheel assemblies.

• Sud Aviation Vautour (1952): (MTOW 21’000kg) Features two dual-wheeled landing gears, with underwing jet engines and a long fuselage and nacelle mounted outriggers.
• Lockheed U-2 (1956): ( MTOW 18’500kg) Optimize long-duration flight missions the bicycle landing gear was a natural selection aircraft’s very long and narrow fuselage. Special attention was given to weight distribution in its design. Outriggers detach on take-off.

Other notable mentions in this category include:

• Martin XB-26: Martin developed in succession several experimental aircraft with bicycle landing gears. The first was a converted B-26 bomber comprised of a single wheeled front and rear landing landing gear with outriggers. It’s believed to be for first aircraft to utilize this arrangement, and is the heaviest aircraft to utilize only two tires (MTOW 15’000kg). It provided feasibility experience for the next two experimental Martin aircraft.
• Martin XB-48 Bomber (1947): The six engine bomber. The wings and engine nacelles where too small to accommodate a tricycle landing gear arrangement and therefore a bicycle arrangement was required (MTOW 46’000kg).
• Martin XB-51 (1949): Experimental tri-jet bomber with an MTOW of 28,000 kg. Two engines are mounted either side of the fuselage which prohibits the use of a tricycle arrangement.
• Yak-28 (Soviet, 1958): MTOW of 20,000 kg.

Large Sized – Four Tyres – 100’000kg

• B-47 Stratojet (MTOW: 100,000 kg): A six-engine nuclear-capable bomber, used a bicycle landing gear system with two dual-wheel landing gears. This design allowed for better payload space while maintaining efficient ground load distribution.

Extra Large – Eight Tyres – ~200’000kg

• Myasishchev M-4 and the experimental M-50 (MTOW: 181,000-200,000 kg): These 1950’s aircraft featured bicycle landing gear with both front and aft dual tandem configurations. The system included a steerable front bogie landing gear for ground manoeuvring.

Notable Mention: Bartini Beriev VVA-14

One of the most unique experimental aircraft employing this configuration, the Bartini Beriev VVA-14 had an MTOW of 52,000 kg. Designed for runway landings, amphibious operations, high-altitude flight, and ground-effect travel, it was also intended for vertical take-off. Its bicycle landing gear featured a dual-wheel front gear, while the rear landing gear had a dual tandem configuration.

For more insight, here’s an entertaining video about the VVA-14: The Strangest Aircraft Ever Built: The Soviet Union’s VVA-14.