Drop Tank List: Difference between revisions

Line 4:

When creating these tables, an effort was made to prioritize primary sources (e.g. stencils on unrestored tanks, manuals) over other references. The reasoning was twofold: First, primary sources are more likely to be technically specific (e.g. specific mark numbers) and include detailed information (e.g. manufacturer). Second, secondary sources are presumed to be more likely to introduce errors (e.g. conflating different models) as the information is reproduced.

As there are multiple cases of different models having the same capacity and as it is common to refer to any tank simply by its capacity, it is important to confirm that any two given documents are describing the same model. Ideally, this correlation would be achieved by verifying that both documents use an identical part number to specify their respective tanks.

As there are multiple cases of different models having the same capacity and as it is common to refer to any tank simply by its capacity, it is important to confirm that any two given documents are describing the same model. Ideally, this correlation would be achieved by verifying that both documents use an identical part number to specify their respective tanks. However, this is not always possible.

Unfortunately, as drop tanks are government furnished equipment (GFE), they are often not as well described as other manufacturer supplied parts in aircraft manuals. Furthermore, given that they were were inherently disposable and therefore no longer needed to be tracked once expended, it is likely that less care was given to identifying and marking them.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 When creating these tables, an effort was made to prioritize primary sources (e.g. stencils on unrestored tanks, manuals) over other references. The reasoning was twofold: First, primary sources are more likely to be technically specific (e.g. specific mark numbers) and include detailed information (e.g. manufacturer). Second, secondary sources are presumed to be more likely to introduce errors (e.g. conflating different models) as the information is reproduced.
-As there are multiple cases of different models having the same capacity and as it is common to refer to any tank simply by its capacity, it is important to confirm that any two given documents are describing the same model. Ideally, this correlation would be achieved by verifying that both documents use an identical part number to specify their respective tanks.
+As there are multiple cases of different models having the same capacity and as it is common to refer to any tank simply by its capacity, it is important to confirm that any two given documents are describing the same model. Ideally, this correlation would be achieved by verifying that both documents use an identical part number to specify their respective tanks. However, this is not always possible.
 Unfortunately, as drop tanks are government furnished equipment (GFE), they are often not as well described as other manufacturer supplied parts in aircraft manuals. Furthermore, given that they were were inherently disposable and therefore no longer needed to be tracked once expended, it is likely that less care was given to identifying and marking them.