Help identifying this drop tank

I think the normal plan was to use the fuel first, then drop the empty tank! 😉

So what happened to all these drop tanks and what effect did all that fuel have on the enviroment.
Several hundred aircraft, dropping many hundreds of fuel tanks containing many thousands of gallons of fuel. 😮

So they were both layered composite material but done differently.

Thanks for the manufacturing info. Very interesting.

Thread drift warning.

Not sure that’s correct. I have worked with formica and it doesn’t look like laminated paper. I suspect the “connection” with the drop tank is that they are both made from composite material. Formica was apparently invented in 1911. (I don’t think the Formica corporation would agree with your point about cheap furniture!). It would be interesting to know more precisely what the tanks were made from.

Well, I’m only passing on what I heard in the documentary. If you look up Formica in Wikipedia…
“The name Formica now refers primarily to the decorative product composed of several layers of kraft paper impregnated with melamine thermosetting resin and topped with a decorative layer protected by melamine, then compressed and cured with heat to make a hard, durable surface.”

now compare it to this account from the son of someone who actually made them…
“During WW2 my father was a supervisor of an assembly line manufacturing paper fuel tanks for P-51’s.
The factory was a paper mill located in the town of Bury ,county of Lancashire,England.
The tanks were made of Kraft paper laminated with resorcinol glue.There were three main components.The nose cone,tail cone ,the middle body.These were shaped over wood forms.
The paper was wound around the main body because it was a simple cylinder.The cones were more complex and were hand laminated.The paper that covered the cones was cut like flower petals.As each layer was aplied with glue it was squeegeed with a specially shaped squeegee.After forming wood baffles were riveted in place.Other pipes and fitting were added.The interiors of the three sub assemblies were coated with glue and then sprayed with fuel resistant shellac laquer.The three assemblies were bonded together in a horizontal hand cranked press.Once the tank was cured it was pressure tested to 6 psi.
Acceptable tanks were then given two coats of cellulose dope.They were then given two coats of aluminum paint applied by spray.Stenciling was then applied.13,166 tanks were made.
dcniner”
(from www.ww2aircraft.net)

Thread drift warning.

Not sure that’s correct. I have worked with formica and it doesn’t look like laminated paper. I suspect the “connection” with the drop tank is that they are both made from composite material. Formica was apparently invented in 1911. (I don’t think the Formica corporation would agree with your point about cheap furniture!). It would be interesting to know more precisely what the tanks were made from.

Some early laminates were actually formed from large sheets of Kraft paper soaked with phenolic resin and then partially cured; these ‘sheets’ were sometimes further layered together (perhaps with the addition of mica = formica?)– I’m not sure about their use in drop tanks!

Those paper based drop tanks are more like TetraPac cartons. I bet they share some similarity, if not a direct spin-off, from the tanks.

Don’t know about the ID, but saw in a TV documentary recently that the paper material material for those drop tanks went on to be called ‘formica’, as use in cheap furniture, etc…

Thread drift warning.

Not sure that’s correct. I have worked with formica and it doesn’t look like laminated paper. I suspect the “connection” with the drop tank is that they are both made from composite material. Formica was apparently invented in 1911. (I don’t think the Formica corporation would agree with your point about cheap furniture!). It would be interesting to know more precisely what the tanks were made from.

…The tanks made of plastic-impregnated (laminated) paper could not store fuel for an extended period of time, but they worked quite well for the time it took to fly a single mission…[/IMG]

Don’t know about the ID, but saw in a TV documentary recently that the paper material material for those drop tanks went on to be called ‘formica’, as use in cheap furniture, etc…

Hi guys, any info on this drop tank?
Cheers

Hi,
No, it isn’t the 75 gal drop tank, hence my question. If you look closely, looks like such a tank has been cut in half and a new section welded between the two halves.

This other photo from a Brazilian P-47D in Italy should show it better.

Thanks again in advance for any help.

Rudnei

It looks like that is the 75 US gallon tank.

Five different auxiliary tanks were fitted to the Thunderbolt during its career:

1. 200 U.S. gallon (758 l) ferry tank, a conformal tub-shaped jettisonable tank made of paper, which barely cleared the ground on grass airfields, was used as an interim measure between 30 July and 31 August 1943;
2. 75 U.S. gal (284 l) drop tank, a teardrop-shaped steel tank produced for the P-39 Airacobra, was adapted to the P-47 beginning 31 August 1943, initially carried on a belly shackle but used in pairs in 1944 as underwing tanks;
3. 108 U.S. gal (409 l) drop tank, a cylindrical paper tank of British design and manufacture, used as a belly tank beginning in September 1943 and a wing tank in April 1944;
4. 150 U.S. gal (568 l) drop tank, a steel tank first used as a belly 20 February 1944, and an underwing tank 22 May 1944;
5. 215 U.S. gal (810 l) belly tank, a wide, flat steel tank developed by VIII Service Command that allowed performance-degrading wing pylons to be removed, was first used in February 1945.

The tanks made of plastic-impregnated (laminated) paper could not store fuel for an extended period of time, but they worked quite well for the time it took to fly a single mission. These tanks were cheaper, lighter, and were useless to the enemy if recovered after being dropped—not only did they break apart, but they did not provide the enemy with any reusable materials that could be scavenged for their own war effort.

Thunderbolt P-47D “Kathie” (artwork by Milton Caniff) with 75-gallon drop tank buzzes the airfield at Bodney, England. Serial# 42-8424 was assigned to Lt. William D. “Bill” Schwenke, 487th FS, 352nd Fighter Group, 8th Air Force. This aircraft was lost after being struck by flak on 11 March 1944, forcing Schwenke to bail out into the English Channel. He was never seen again. Source:USAF

Here is a cylindrical belly tank: