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Can you show me the text from that manual?From a Manual I have (a reprint) it says the F4U-1, F3A-1, FG-1 and British aircraft serial numbers JT-100 to JT-554 had the fuselage tank, the tanks in the outer wing panels and a single droppable fuel tank. Some of the early ones did NOT have the centerline drop tank and the fuel tank selector switch has no position for it.
The F4U-1D, F3A-1D, FG-1D and British aircraft JT-555 and up did not have the outer wing tanks and had provisions for three drop tanks. The Center line and the two wing root pylon tanks. However a note on the drawing says that the position for the centerline tank will become the OFF position when the center line drop tank is eliminated. Text states that the normal Navy drop tanks of 154 gallons are used but the Lockheed 170 us gallon tanks can be used if the Navy tanks are not available.
For bomb releases it says that the selection of type of bomb release (manual or electric) will depend on the type of bomb adaptor installed on a particular airplane.
From this I would guess that the later F4U-1Ds did indeed do away with the centerline drop tank.
And what do you mean by "the OFF position"?Can you show me the text from that manual?
I wonder if those first few hundred F4U-1Ds retained the 62 gal outer wing tanks (or at least the provisions for them)?Hi Hoggardhigh,
Although I don't know which site you're watching, the information from that website is true. It was probably taken from my book on the -1A and -1D Corsairs: Amazon product ASIN 0985714999View: https://www.amazon.com/Aircraft-Pictorial-No-F4U-1-Corsair/dp/0985714999/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1514908269&sr=8-2&keywords=dana+f4u
I spent two years researching the Corsair for that book (and a companion on the Birdcage). The first 300 F4U-1Ds kept the centerline tank provisions until it was certain the new pylons would do the job. Later BuAer realized the need to run fuel lines to both pylons and plumbed the "bomb-only" pylon under the left wing. (The earlier 300 aircraft were to be retrofitted.)
The decision to remove the plumbing from the centerline (a weight-saving measure) also was recognized as a mistake, but nearly all the tanks used for that station had been converted and expended as napalm bombs. When the CL station was reworked in early 1945, the Brewster bomb racks were modified to carry the 150-gallon Lockheed metal tanks.
Cheers,
Dana
Hi Hoggardhigh,
No, the outer wing tanks were deleted on aircraft #2815 (JT555), the first aircraft to carry the twin pylons in production.
Cheers,
Dana
My buddy with the composite Brewster tank also has a centerline Hellcat tank and it is rusted through on the bottom. Definitely a steel tank.
Also, the 110 gal sausage tanks used in the Eighth Air Force that you accurately describe as paper were painted bright silver (metal flake "dope") while the steel version of that same tank was painted light gray. So that would be the quick way of how you tell the difference between those two contructions.
I posted an item elsewhere that explained how the Lockheed steel drop tanks were fabricated.
However I also read that the both F4F and the F4U used non-metallic drop tanks. And also that the Piper Skycycle used a non-metallic F4U drop tank as the basis for the fuselage.