F7U-3 Nose Landing Gear

Surprise has been expressed about the presence of pre-rotation on the nose landing-gear tires as described HERE. The need is a little more obvious when you realize how long the nose landing gear was with the shock strut fully extended. When the nose wheel touched down, the load of the initial drag of the tires on the nose landing gear down-lock mechanism was magnified by a very long lever. (If you're in a window seat beside or aft of the main landing gear of a de Havilland Dash Eight, you can get a pretty good idea of the loads involved when the wheels meet the runway on landing.) Pre-rotation of the F7U-3 nose-gear tires reduced the kickback load, particularly on the non-skid surface of an aircraft carrier deck.

Note that the bleed air line telescoped to match the movement of the shock strut. Also, this nose gear does not yet have all the claptrap between the wheels required to keep the Davis barrier and barricade straps from being trapped there, possibly resulting in nose gear collapse.

The broad "V" directed the straps inward where they would be cut by the blades below it. My guess is that the small hook in the front of the shock strut was there to collect the activation strap of the Davis barrier (see http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2010/10/barriers-and-barricades-one-more-time.html).