I recently returned from a trip to the Ramu valley in Papua New Guinea, where there are still a lot of USAAF drop tanks serving as signposts etc (plus pierced steel matting transformed into fernceposts etc).
I seem to recall claims that the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain because the Me109’s (sorry Bf 109’s) were too short ranged and didn’t have drop tanks.
A little later there were those strange long range Spitfires with one extra tank built in to the leading edge – so drop tanks took a while to eveolve in the UK.
So who first started using the definitive drop tank, and when?
By: Denis - 4th July 2012 at 23:09
Thanks Graham
By: Graham Boak - 4th July 2012 at 21:54
Well we can see that needs editing as the RAF were using them on Hurricanes on early intruder flights in late 1941 at least. Wing Commander Geddes of II(AC) was involved with early clandestine flights with Lysanders fitted with a long range tank from Sawbridgeworth according to squadron history, this also being in early 1941
The Lysander tank, and early Hurricane tanks, were not droppable. The first droppable tank which could be fitted to the Hurricane appeared during Mk.IIB production. As the first Hurribombers entered combat in October 1941, I’d have thought that date would be appropriate for the droppable tank, too. (Not on the same individual aircraft, but the same wing changes in production.)
By: Arabella-Cox - 4th July 2012 at 11:47
What about slipper tanks?
By: Denis - 3rd July 2012 at 22:18
Quoted From wikipedia:The Allies commonly used them to allow fighters increased range and patrol time over continental Europe. The first RAF use of such external fuel tanks occurred in 1942, during the transit of Supermarine Spitfires to Malta.
Well we can see that needs editing as the RAF were using them on Hurricanes on early intruder flights in late 1941 at least. Wing Commander Geddes of II(AC) was involved with early clandestine flights with Lysanders fitted with a long range tank from Sawbridgeworth according to squadron history, this also being in early 1941
By: WP840 - 3rd July 2012 at 20:23
I thought the Luftwaffe were the first to use the standard drop tank, on Bf 109Es and Stukas – might be a pre-concieved and ill founded thought though!
By: J Boyle - 3rd July 2012 at 15:39
Though nobody thought to drop one as a range extender (because the need wasn’t there), some of the Curtiss Hawk biplanes in the 20s-30s had a removable 55 gallon belly tank.
Likewise, the Curtiss O-2B of 1927 had a dropable under fuselage 113 gallon fuel tank. Again, being an observation plane, it might have been a safety consideration…to get rid of fuel before a forced landing.
By: Stepwilk - 3rd July 2012 at 15:24
Don’t know who invented drop tanks, but I do know the Zero was the first production aircraft to be designed from the outset to utilize one. See my recent Aviation History magazine cover story.
By: pagen01 - 3rd July 2012 at 13:17
I thought the Luftwaffe were the first to use the standard drop tank, on Bf 109Es and Stukas – might be a pre-concieved and ill founded thought though!
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July 3, 2012 at 12:05 pm