Looking at those pictures made me realise the delicate balance the engineer that designed it faced.
He had to make it as light as possible at the rear so that the rear would lift easily to get it airborne; but not so light that it was in danger of digging its nose in the dirt when landing.
Hence the placement of the axle braces.
There were some clever people out there 'back in the day'.
There still are some out there even now.

Thanks for that Navy.