Robert,

Don't know where you got the idea a B-17 would "tip over" should the
gear be retracted with the tires rotating. The gear retracts in its
plane of rotation. As a result of your post, I got in touch with one
of the folks who gives checkrides in B-17s (and all other WWII
multi-engine aircraft) and was advised that the subject is discussed
from time to time, but is an old wives tale. Boeing does not call for
the brakes to be used after takeoff on their WWII bombers. I was told
that the CAF procedure is not to touch the brakes on the B-17 to stop
the wheels from rotating. The matter tends to be airplane specific,
on the B-29 they recently started using the brakes because they are
concerned about clearances with the gear doors/wells, but he said that
was the only one. If you look at the gear for many of the WWII and
later large aircraft, there are red marks on the tires that line up
with red marks on the wheels so the crew can see if the tire has slide
on the wheel.

All the best,
Rick

(Robert M. Gary) wrote in message . com...
(Paul Tomblin) wrote in message ...
This will be my first winter flying the club's Lance. One instructor told
me that you want to tap the brakes before retracting the gear to dislodge
any slush or snow so that it doesn't freeze in the wheel well, and I read
somebody else saying that you should hold off retracting the gear after
take-off for a little while to blow the slush and snow off. Should I do
one or the other or both?

There are two things here. Tapping the brakes is something started in
WWII because a B-17 would tip over when the gear come up if the wheels
were spinning (imagine the gyro action happening on those big wheels).
I believe most large aircraft today automatically apply brake pressure
when the hydro lifts the gear.
In the Mooney world we always read about Mooney pilots taking off,
getting slush in the gear and then freezing at altitude. I don't know
how tapping the brakes would change that though.

-Robert, CFI and Mooney owner