Ooooh…I didn’t even think of that!
I also agree that a valid argument is the father wanting to promote a book as I had the same thought. This is why I almost thought it was a UL. It’s got just enough in it to make me think it may be real, but still have many doubts. Well, I asked for your thoughts and got them. Thanks all.
kilt-wearin’ man --regarding your remarks on droptanks on Spitfires… cite?
'Cause I’ve occasionally been known to have a small contribution or two to discussions abour WW2 aircraft, & I don’t recall ever hearing about non-streamlined external tanks. On any model of aircraft. :dubious:
Cite?
And…photos? :dubious: :dubious:
Bosda - reread my posts and the ones I replied to and go to www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com to look at the pictures. I said nothing about non-streamlined external tanks on a spitfire. I stated that the tanks identified as “spitfire drop tanks” on the Cavanaugh website were not the vaguely bomb-shaped tanks that were relevant to the kid’s claims, there were conformal tanks (“conformal” being streamlined by definition) that appear to be unique to the spitfire. Plenty of photos if you just bother to read the thread instead of trying to snipe at folks. You’ll also notice, from the discussion in this thread, that a “B-25 drop tank” was also found on the Cavanaugh website. It’s not streamlined at all, because it fits inside the bomb bay of a B-25.
Photos? They’re linked in the thread, try reading some of the posts I was replying to. Cites? Look at the links in this thread for yourself and stop acting like a jerk - I’ve never known you to behave this way before and we’ve posted in the same threads lots of times. Were you just wandering around the boards looking for something to argue about?
I didn’t locate any such pics on that site.
Perhaps I missed them. I will check.
The spitfire droptanks are under “artifacts”. Not sure where the Mitchell bomb-bay tank is, Pokadyne found it. Looking through the thread, I found these URLs for you:
http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/Artifacts/Pictures/SpitTank.jpg
http://www.cavanaughflightmuseum.com/Artifacts/Pictures/B-25Tank.jpg
You can see that the spitfire tank is shaped to fit snug against the bottom of the wings and center fuselage, and I’m not sure if it’s even really a “drop” tank. The Mitchell tank is obviously meant to be carried in a bomb bay and I wouldn’t think it would be droppable - it just has the look of something that’s installed rather than hung.
That is an external tank, but it is not a drop tank.
I think this is our problem.
The actual drop tanks were all streamined, & of course, external.
Drop tanks were made of a variety of materials, including plastic & cardboard, treated with a thin layer of metal to prevent the petrochemicals from dissolving them. Thus, they were very cheap & disposable.
True drop tanks appeared relatively late in the War. Some external fuel tanks were modified for use as a drop tank, but this was done on a mission-by-mission basis by the flight crews, & they were never intended for use as such.