  The nature and origin of ultra-high energy (UHE: reffering to > 10^19 eV)
cosmic rays are great mysteries in modern astrophysics. The current theories
for their explanation include the so-called "top-down" decay scenarios whose
main signature is a large ratio of UHE gamma rays to protons. Important step in
determining the primary composition at ultra-high energies is the study of air
shower development. UHE gamma ray induced showers are affected by the
Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) effect and the geomagnetic cascading process.
In this work extensive simulations have been carried out to study the
characteristics of air showers from UHE gamma rays. At energies above several
times 10^19 eV the shower is affected by geomagnetic cascading rather than by
the LPM effect. The properties of the longitudinal development such as average
depth of the shower maximum or its fluctuations depend strongly on both primary
energy and incident direction. This feature may provide a possible evidence of
the UHE gamma ray presence by fluorescence detectors.
