Unidentified fuel tanks

[christhomas]

Please see pics below.

A friend has this object lying in a field in Norfolk UK. Acquired by his father pre 1970's and used for years as a raft on the river by the kids.

It is made of aluminium with stainless fittings and fuel filler caps. At least one of the caps is marked fuel with the volume.

Have absolutely no idea what aircraft these belong to or whether they are WW2 or later. Would be interested to hear from anyone who has any knowledge about them.

Thanks

 

[Capt. Vick]

Interesting. I guess the question is, were they joined by his father (likely?) or is it some unusual twin tank (experimental?) configuration. It does look as though is has a pointed oval cut-out on the top...maybe for pylon mounting?

 

[christhomas]

Interesting. I guess the question is, were they joined by his father (likely?) or is it some unusual twin tank (experimental?) configuration. It does look as though is has a pointed oval cut-out on the top...maybe for pylon mounting?

I didn't have time to look closely but my impression is that they have always been one unit. The joins between the tanks and cross member look high quality and original - not a diy job. The cut out slot also looks original to me. I'm not so sure about the steel bars sticking out of the slot at the back and front. The front one was obviously used for towing on the river and may have been an addition.

If you know of anywhere else I could also post these pictures for help in ID-ing them that would be helpful.

 

[rochie]

its not likely they were joined like that originally, why would they put filling points on the sides ?
the oval cut out on the cross piece is probably where two parts that would normally conform to the wing profile are joined front and back i think ?

 

[Crimea_River]

I was thinking the same Karl until it occurred to me that, odd as it sounds, maybe these were mounted on a horizontal pylon or wing tip so that the filler caps were vertical. I've never seen such an arrangement though but I agree with the OP that the joining structure looks original, given the aerodynamically faired joints. and not a DIY job.

 

[rochie]

looks like a rough joint in the oval ?

 

[christhomas]

its not likely they were joined like that originally, why would they put filling points on the sides ?
the oval cut out on the cross piece is probably where two parts that would normally conform to the wing profile are joined front and back i think ?

You might have a point there. I didn't look at the centre line of the cross piece which is obscured by leaves. At front there are signs of some yellow painted glass fibre resin over that area. It could be that there is a non original join there. I will take a look more closely next time I'm there.

I'm now wondering whether someone might have seen the potential of these as some kind of watercraft and bought up some surplus stocks which they fabricated in pairs to make a saleable item.

If they were originally individual tanks would they have been specific to a particular aircraft or have had multiple applications?

 

[rochie]

You might have a point there. I didn't look at the centre line of the cross piece which is obscured by leaves. At front there are signs of some yellow painted glass fibre resin over that area. It could be that there is a non original join there. I will take a look more closely next time I'm there.

I'm now wondering whether someone might have seen the potential of these as some kind of watercraft and bought up some surplus stocks which they fabricated in pairs to make a saleable item.

If they were originally individual tanks would they have been specific to a particular aircraft or have had multiple applications?

i suspect they are from a DH Vampire, they look a similar shape and the pylons look similar too, as does the filler cap position.

 

[T Bolt]

Kind of looks like the tanks on a P-61

 

[rochie]

Kind of looks like the tanks on a P-61

Glenn i think you can just see the rear of the pylon flairs back to the end of the tank.
Didnt the P-61 just have straight up and down pylons ?

 

[Airframes]

I was thinking Vampire, or that era, too.
They appears to have integral pylon fairings, as seen on the Vampire pic Karl posted, and I'm guessing these were used to join the two tanks together, inserting a steel tube welded in place, to form the double raft floats.
I remember seeing quite a number of Vampire tanks in a local scrapyard, back in the mid 1960's, and I assume they were sold off in job-lots, this at a time when Austin Champs could be bought from the MoD disposal for around £50 !

 

[T Bolt]

Glenn i think you can just see the rear of the pylon flairs back to the end of the tank.
Didnt the P-61 just have straight up and down pylons ?

Your right Karl, Didn't see that

 

[rochie]

Your right Karl, Didn't see that

I actually thought P-38 first but the pylon shape at the rear edge that leads me to think Vampire

 

[MIflyer]

The smaller of those holes in the outer ends looks like it is for a fuel drain valve so the fuel could be sampled before flight or drained.

 

[MiTasol]

I would go with Vampire/Venom or similar as most likely. If the OP can find a part number or two this should be easy to solve.