What did this old tire come from?

Went out for a short hike this afternoon along the river. It was low tide, and I discovered this mounted tire had washed up on the shore. It was quite large, maybe 3ft in diameter, and clearly very old. Sidewall reads "BFGoodrich Silvertown" and "17.00-20 Type III 20 Ply Rating Nylon". The tread pattern is bizarre, and the profile of the thing made me think of an aircraft tire. Any better guesses?

In reply to 02Pilot :

You are correct, "Main Landing Gear"

https://www.document-center.com/standards/show/AND-10566/history/

And the follow-up question: Where is the rest of the plane? 

That seems....like there may be more story to be told.

Streetwiseguy said:

That seems....like there may be more story to be told.

Totally.  Where did you find this, we can try to find what crashes might have been up river.  Nobody loses a landing gear without the FAA knowing about it.  

Hudson River, about 60 miles north of NYC. At that point, the river is still subject to tidal flows, so it could have come from north or south (I found it on a south-facing beach). I would think the first thing would be narrowing down the timeframe for production of the tire, but so far I haven't found anything to assist with that. There were no other markings visible.

David S. Wallens said:

And the follow-up question: Where is the rest of the plane? 

At the scene of the crash.

ShawnG said:

David S. Wallens said:

And the follow-up question: Where is the rest of the plane? 

At the scene of the crash.

Well, unless it also floated away. 

Yes, there’s more to this story. 

My guess is that the wheel fell off mid flight, based on the two giant chunks missing in the first photo.

It looks like it's still holding air. Plus, it's still attached to the hub, is there a brake disk or drum on the other side?

I wonder if some vintage aircraft guru's could ID the hub its on. 

I tried to narrow the dates by the logo, but apparently that BFG design was used from 1870-1988, which doesn't really help much. No search I've managed to complete has turned up anything with a similar tread pattern; all the photos of airplane tires seem to show either totally smooth or modern linear tread. I wish I'd gotten better photos of the wheel. As far as the back side, I didn't think to check.

I saw one still attached to the landing gear in Alaska in '98. It looked brand new, because Alaska. It was from a AF C-47 that crashed in '54. I have film pictures here somewhere.

Goodyear lists this size (17.00-20 ) for the main and nose gear on the Douglas DC-7 (which had really cool turbo-compound engines) and the main gear on Lockheed's Constellation and Super Constellation and nothing else here - https://www.goodyearaviation.com/resources/pdf/databook-6-2018.pdf

Hmm, more googling tells me that these aircraft tires are retreaded and used on kress slag pot carriers and in mining industry

So there is a good chance it came off the back of something like this - https://twitter.com/TyreBossLtd/status/900057405530271744

That makes sense as it looks like a steel wheel in the original post and that is not something you would see on an aircraft.

It does look a bit heavy for a plane.  Lacks safety wire on the nuts, but I am not sure how universal that is, especially for older planes.  
 

Any sign of brakes?  Aircraft wheels generally have disc brakes attached to the hub.

Interesting stuff. Type III, per the Goodyear link, "This type was one of the earliest size designations used for piston-propeller aircraft.
Its characteristic is low pressure for cushioning and flotation." This certainly seems right, given how heavily aged the tire seems to be. The wheel did look heavy for an aircraft, however, so the idea of specialized heavy equipment does seem very plausible.

Well, it definitely didn't come off a canoe.

In reply to 02Pilot :

I sure hope that where you found it was close to your house because now you have to go back with a handyman jack and flip it over.  Place a tape measure on it and take a bunch of photos of it, with some being straight on with no angles so that I can scale it in CAD. 

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

It's not too far away, but the beach is made up of extremely soft muddy sand, so I don't think it will be all that straightforward to lift. That, plus the fact that it's only accessible for a few hours a day because of the tide, and it snowed again this morning. Not sure I'm going to have an opportunity to go back before it disappears again.

I am far too invested in this story of a old scrap tire on the bank of a river.  I see I'm not alone lol.

In reply to RonnieFnD :

I know, right? 

Everyone appreciates a good mystery. (This also goes back to how I was recently telling someone that everything/everyone has a story to tell.)

Our ability to collectively figure stuff out never ceases to amaze me.

Hey, there could be an entire airplane connected to the other side of that tire.