Bomb Bay Tanks
Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:58 am
Since noizeedave's B-25 ferry tank discovery and rescue prompted me to post the picture of our droppable tanks I felt maybe I should start a separate thread pertaining to the disposable type.
I have several other pictures of our tanks that I'll be glad to post here when we return home tonight. As I stated on the other thread, our Airbase Historical Society has had these two tanks for a while. We are quite certain they were set up for use in the B-29, and these were used during crew training at Second Air Force training fields. A local farmer hauled diesel fuel in them for a number of years, and at some point the leader of our group acquired them. B-24's also used this style tank, but the mounting and orientation of the tank in the bay was different than in the Superfort. On the B-29 the tanks were mounted one on top of the other horizontally on a special adapter that attached to the bomb rack hangars. The racks on the '24 are closer together and the tank was mounted vertically, again able to be salvoed by the bombardier in an emergency.
I have (mistakenly, it seems) never thought these old girls were such a big deal. I assumed that more of the tanks survived the war and were still lying around within the warbird family. Now you all have my radar turned up full to see if I can find some more of them! We've spent many hours cultivating contacts near the B-29 training bases in Nebraska and Kansas, so who knows, there may be more than just these two? Luckily, farmers (I used to be one) NEVER throw anything away, so maybe we'll find enough to equip both the Enola Gay and Bockscar.
Pictures soon,
Scott
I have several other pictures of our tanks that I'll be glad to post here when we return home tonight. As I stated on the other thread, our Airbase Historical Society has had these two tanks for a while. We are quite certain they were set up for use in the B-29, and these were used during crew training at Second Air Force training fields. A local farmer hauled diesel fuel in them for a number of years, and at some point the leader of our group acquired them. B-24's also used this style tank, but the mounting and orientation of the tank in the bay was different than in the Superfort. On the B-29 the tanks were mounted one on top of the other horizontally on a special adapter that attached to the bomb rack hangars. The racks on the '24 are closer together and the tank was mounted vertically, again able to be salvoed by the bombardier in an emergency.
I have (mistakenly, it seems) never thought these old girls were such a big deal. I assumed that more of the tanks survived the war and were still lying around within the warbird family. Now you all have my radar turned up full to see if I can find some more of them! We've spent many hours cultivating contacts near the B-29 training bases in Nebraska and Kansas, so who knows, there may be more than just these two? Luckily, farmers (I used to be one) NEVER throw anything away, so maybe we'll find enough to equip both the Enola Gay and Bockscar.
Pictures soon,
Scott
Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:39 am
Has anyone considered using those as a pattern for a fiberglass enclosure to put stuff like PX items in? It would be the perfect hideout for them.
Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:36 pm
As promised, here are a couple of detail shots of the tanks we have:
Filler neck and gauge:
A close-up of the gauge, max. capacity 640 gallons:
The entry plate on top of the tank--"go on in there private, we'll be having a smoke out here while you have a look around!":
And here is another little find that we have acquired recently. The single wheels leaning on the dollies vanished some time before we made the deal to purchase the other four:
This was fun--I sat in the back of the little van and played trailer hitch while we towed both dollies to our storage area. The neighbors had to wonder what kind of knotheads were driving up the road!
Scott
Filler neck and gauge:
A close-up of the gauge, max. capacity 640 gallons:
The entry plate on top of the tank--"go on in there private, we'll be having a smoke out here while you have a look around!":
And here is another little find that we have acquired recently. The single wheels leaning on the dollies vanished some time before we made the deal to purchase the other four:
This was fun--I sat in the back of the little van and played trailer hitch while we towed both dollies to our storage area. The neighbors had to wonder what kind of knotheads were driving up the road!
Scott
Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:23 pm
I know that the A-26 Invader would use a bomb bay tank if needed for longer range.
KEK
KEK