"brian whatcott" wrote in message
...
Peter Dohm wrote:
... when the lowly and "draggy" Cessna 150 and 152 are converted from a
steerable oleo strut type nosewheel to a steerable tailwheel, they are
reputed to gain at least 8 knots.
....
Peter

Hmmm...is this a comparison of a straight tail, no rear window, tail wheel
C150 and a nose wheel C-150, or are there are a few other little details
on a late model conversion, like wind LE cuffs, turbulators etc., etc.
8 kts difference sound a little high to me, but I am willing to be
persuaded! :-)

Brian W

No, it relates to my best recollection (that is possibly less than complete)
of the before and after performance for a Teas Taildragger conversion--which
removed the complete nosewheel assembly, added a steerable tailwheel, and
relocated the original main gear assembly to position forward of the wing
strut attachments.

That was reputed to drastically improve the cruise performance and provide
an accessible means for tailwheel training--during a time when tailwheel
trainers were in reportedly short supply. To the best of my recollection,
there was some critisism of the conversion in the case of the C152 and of
the L amd M models of the C150 because of the softer and slightly lower and
wider main gear--which alledgedly made it possible to compress the main gear
enough to strike the propeller during a hard landing.

Peter