Question about loss of engine oil

[engguy]

Got thinking about how in the WWII days when the planes got shot and made it back to base. I'm sure some of them suffered major loss of engine oil at times. Does anyone have any stories of or know of the minimum amount of oil that can be in the system and still bring the plane back to base?

[b29flteng]

I was on a B-25 that landed with no oil showing in the oil tank, I could see the bottom, and we still had 40 psi pressure but dropping. The B-25 has a 37 gallon oil tank.

[engguy]

Thats pretty low. Does that one have a hopper tank inside? How did you know it was low? Just the low oil pressure?
What caused the loss?

[b29flteng]

Yes it had a hopper.

We landed because the oil pressure was dropping.

The oil blew out of a few bad cylinders on the outside of the engine so we didn't know it was happening. The rear of the aircraft was blocked off so we couldn't check things out from there. After landing the right vertical stab was coated with oil. It was a ferry flight after the pilot bought it and was bringing it home. It is now flying with the Arizona Wing of the CAF.

I had serviced the oil tanks to full before we left on the flight.

[b29flteng]

The KC-97 s had a central oil tank that was used to service the four engines in flight. The crews would usually carry an extra barrel of oil to service the central oil tank if needed.