What happened
On October 24, 2009, a Curtiss Wright P-40E was performing a landing at Lincoln, Nebraska, under visual meteorological conditions with a visibility of 10 statute miles and winds from 170 degrees at 6 knots. Upon touchdown, the tailwheel-equipped aircraft experienced an uncontrollable swerve as the right main landing gear began to collapse.
As the right main gear moved off the edge of the runway, the aircraft rocked forward onto its nose, causing the propeller and the left wing tip to impact the ground. The aircraft then rocked back and came to rest partially off the runway in an upright position with the right wing low. There were no injuries resulting from the accident.
The investigation
An examination of the landing gear retraction system was conducted following the accident. Investigators found that the landing gear handle detent was contaminated with paint. Because of this contamination, the landing gear handle failed to remain in the detent, which led to the partial retraction of the right landing gear downlock pin and the subsequent partial retraction of the right main landing gear. The aircraft registration was recorded as N4420K.