Pic Request - B-24 Bomb Bay Fuel Tank

[Steve Nelson]

Hi all,

I'm currently working on a model of one of the B-24s flown on the 8/1/43 Ploesti Raid. These aircraft had a weapons load in the aft bombay, but were equipped with droppable long range ferry tanks in the forward bay. Would anyone out there have a pic of the tanks in place?

Thanks!

Steve

[Second Air Force]

Steve,

I thought I had the plumbing/mounting diagram for the droppable aux tanks handy, but I can't find it anywhere. The tank looked somewhat similar to the B-29 tanks in the lower photo except the fill ports and fuel connections were in a different location since the tanks hung vertically in the B-24 bay. The top photo of the late model B-24 with Eagle antenna shows a bomb bay tank as it looked from the outside. What looks like straps must be part of the support frame that attaches to the bomb racks.I wish I had a better photo close at hand but it's all I can find right now. Perhaps check on some of the PTO bomb group websites to see if there are any photos. The 90th and 43rd used long range tanks quite a bit.

[Jarink1]

This is from the 1942 B-24D Flight Manual.
It doesn't have much detail, but it does at least show the general cross-section and size of the tanks.

[Second Air Force]

That's the diagram I was thinking of! If memory serves there is also a more detailed series in the maintenance manual set.

Scott

[Steve Nelson]

Great stuff..thanks guys!

SN

[Steve Nelson]

Wouldn't ya know it..

Will blundering around aimlessly on the net, I found a Romanian forum with a 100-something page thread on Operation Tidal Wave. Among the hundreds of useful pics was this one..



This is one of the Tidal Wave aircraft, just after the bombay tanks were installed. This gives me a pretty good idea of the configuration..any ideas as to color? I'm thinking dark gray/black, with metal straps.

SN

[Second Air Force]

Steve,

P.M. sent with a couple more photos.

Scott