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Common Questions and Answers (view source)
Revision as of 00:18, 14 March 2022
, 00:18, 14 March 2022→Could drop tanks be used as improvised bombs?: Add Reference
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In addition, generally speaking, drop tanks do not have the stabilizing fins that actual bombs do, making them likely to tumble off course when they are dropped. When combined with the fact that many aircraft with drop tanks do not have bombsights, which makes them hard to aim, it makes them very inaccurate. | In addition, generally speaking, drop tanks do not have the stabilizing fins that actual bombs do, making them likely to tumble off course when they are dropped. When combined with the fact that many aircraft with drop tanks do not have bombsights, which makes them hard to aim, it makes them very inaccurate. | ||
However, there were instances where drop tanks were used in this manner. During attacks on the Japanese garrison on the island of Rota in the Mariana Archipelago, Marine Corps Corsairs used drop tanks to destroy a vegetable garden. To solve the problem of ignition, after the first wave of aircraft dropped their belly tanks a second wave fired incendiary rounds into the pooled liquid. The strike was also almost certainly made at low altitude, negating the accuracy problem. | However, there were instances where drop tanks were used in this manner. During attacks on the Japanese garrison on the island of Rota in the Mariana Archipelago, Marine Corps Corsairs used drop tanks to destroy a vegetable garden. To solve the problem of ignition, after the first wave of aircraft dropped their belly tanks a second wave fired incendiary rounds into the pooled liquid. The strike was also almost certainly made at low altitude, negating the accuracy problem.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garand |first1=George W. |last2=Strobridge |first2=Truman R. |title=History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II |date=1971 |publisher=Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps |pages=428–429 |chapter-url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/IV/index.html |access-date=14 March 2022 |chapter=Volume IV: Western Pacific Operations}}</ref> | ||
Quite in contrast to their use as weapons, Germany dropped leaflets informing Polish civilians that the large objects they were finding were actually not bombs, but fuel tanks.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Felton |first1=Chuck |title=WW2 Paper Drop Tanks |url=http://www.feltondesignanddata.com/id19.html |website=Chuck’s Cardboard Model Aircraft |access-date=13 March 2022}}</ref> | Quite in contrast to their use as weapons, Germany dropped leaflets informing Polish civilians that the large objects they were finding were actually not bombs, but fuel tanks.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Felton |first1=Chuck |title=WW2 Paper Drop Tanks |url=http://www.feltondesignanddata.com/id19.html |website=Chuck’s Cardboard Model Aircraft |access-date=13 March 2022}}</ref> | ||