Exploring Imperial Japanese Aircraft Auxiliary Fuel Drop Tanks

[fontessa]

Fontessa, do you have any more info on the Saiun's radar installment(s)? Images?

Sorry but no. I searched hard...
According to Japanese Wiki, below aircrafts used H-6 radars.
- 天山一二甲型 Tenzan Jill Model12A
- 銀河11型丙 Ginga Frances Model11C
- 一式陸上攻撃機二二甲型 Type1 Land based Attack Plane Betty Model22A
- 零式水上偵察機一一甲型 Type0 Reconnaissance Seaplane Model11A
- 二式飛行艇一二型 Type2 Large Fling Boat Model12

Seems to me that the drop tank in the photo doesn't fully match those in the drawings.
The drop-tank appears to have the body of the 726L tank and the nose of the Type 7 tank, but even the mountings points and stays aren't an exact

It seems to me that the drop tank was "Type 7".

fontessa

[Mil-tech Bard]

>>Fontessa, do you have any more info on the Saiun's radar installment(s)? Images?

The site that said it didn't have an image and now the link I was going to post to it is both dead & not on archive.org.

What has popped up instead is this link:

https://emmasplanes.com/index.php/japan ... 6-model-4/

[ShindenKai]

Fontessa,

The Type 7 drawing seems to be implying that it uses a total of 4 stays: 2 stays (which is why they extend past the upper surface of the tank) for the front of the tank and 2 for the rear (this issue could be resolved with a detailed front view drawing of a Type 7 tank), none of the stays of are faired, similar to that of bomb stays.

The tank on the Saiun in-flight, is clearly attached at four points only, which matches the attachment of the 726L tank, also the front & rear stays are faired on the tank side of attachment, but not at fuselage attachment- which only partially matches the drawing that shows the stays as being fully-faired and lastly the tail of the tank does not match that of the Type 7, it matches the 726L, the nose is only part matches the Type 7.

The Saiun's with wooden wing-tips for radar, was the antenna concealed within a wooden fairing for aerodynamics/speed?

Thank you again Fontessa for all the info you bring to light.

[ShindenKai]

>>Fontessa, do you have any more info on the Saiun's radar installment(s)? Images?

The site that said it didn't have an image and now the link I was going to post to it is both dead & not on archive.org.

What has popped up instead is this link:

https://emmasplanes.com/index.php/japan ... 6-model-4/

Great link! Thank you.

[fontessa]

The Type 7 drawing seems to be implying that it uses a total of 4 stays: 2 stays (which is why they extend past the upper surface of the tank) for the front of the tank and 2 for the rear (this issue could be resolved with a detailed front view drawing of a Type 7 tank), none of the stays of are faired, similar to that of bomb stays.

The tank on the Saiun in-flight, is clearly attached at four points only, which matches the attachment of the 726L tank, also the front & rear stays are faired on the tank side of attachment, but not at fuselage attachment- which only partially matches the drawing that shows the stays as being fully-faired and lastly the tail of the tank does not match that of the Type 7, it matches the 726L, the nose is only part matches the Type 7.

I think drawings did not always show everything accurately. And I believe "The tank on the Saiun in-flight" was a Type7 Unified 700L Tank.
I would like to “How to hang torpedo and others”. C6N was designed so that it could also be used as a successor to B6N at first. Therefore, the oil cooler was placed in a position where it would not interfere with torpedo and others. Type7 Unified 700L Tank, Torpedo, and 800kg Bomb were hung with fixing brackets at the same positions. This was exactly the same as B5N Kate and B6N Jill. Incidentally, they could only carry two 250kg bombs. One was at the torpedo position and the other was outside it.

The Saiun's with wooden wing-tips for radar, was the antenna concealed within a wooden fairing for aerodynamics/speed?

I have mentioned as below but is doubtful. Because the half wavelength of the H6 radar was 1m.
And both the Japanese Wiki I referred, and the document Mil-tech Bard shown didn't say that Saiun had H6 radar.

both wingtips of 15 cm were cut off, and a doublet antenna (dipole antenna?) was installed facing forward at 45 degrees and covered with wooden wings.

fontessa

fontessa

[Mil-tech Bard]

>>and the document Mil-tech Bard shown didn't say that Saiun had H6 radar.

Yeah.

I am abashed that I never captured that site post that tagged the Saiun with the H6.

I was so excited when I found it because everything else said the Saiun never had one.

[ShindenKai]

More fantastic info Fontessa, thank you.

[Mil-tech Bard]

Yeah Fontessa, exactly what ShindenKai just said.

I am in awe at your researching breadth & depth.

[Mil-tech Bard]

This Japanese drop tank table's data was extracted from J R Francillon Japanese Aircraft of The Pacific War.

Japanese service, Aircraft type, Drop tank size, Ventral/Center, Wing
IJAAC, Ki-27, 130 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-44, 130 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A5M4, 160 liters, 1, 0
IJAAC, Ki-45, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-61, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-100, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-43, 200 liters, 0 2
IJAAC, Ki-84, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, J2M2, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A6M, 330 liters, 1, 0
IJNAC, J1N1, 330 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, D4Y3, 330 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A6M7 & A6M8, 350 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A7M, 350 liters, 1, 0
IJNAC, N1K1-J & N1K2-J, 400 liters, 1, 0
IJAAC, Ki-46, 460 liters, 1, 0
IJNAC, C6N1 & C6N2, 730 liters, 1, 0

[fontessa]

This Japanese drop tank table's data was extracted from J R Francillon Japanese Aircraft of The Pacific War.

Japanese service, Aircraft type, Drop tank size, Ventral/Center, Wing
IJAAC, Ki-27, 130 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-44, 130 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A5M4, 160 liters, 1, 0
IJAAC, Ki-45, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-61, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-100, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJAAC, Ki-43, 200 liters, 0 2
IJAAC, Ki-84, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, J2M2, 200 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A6M, 330 liters, 1, 0
IJNAC, J1N1, 330 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, D4Y3, 330 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A6M7 & A6M8, 350 liters, 0, 2
IJNAC, A7M, 350 liters, 1, 0
IJNAC, N1K1-J & N1K2-J, 400 liters, 1, 0
IJAAC, Ki-46, 460 liters, 1, 0
IJNAC, C6N1 & C6N2, 730 liters, 1, 0

I don't know much about Army aircraft.
Roughly speaking, for Naval aircraft, "Naval Standard tanks" were used in the early and middle stages of the war, and "Army/Navy Unified tanks" were used in the middle and late stages of the war.
Unified tsnks were;
Type2: 200L
Type3: 300L
Type4: 400L
Type7: 700L
Special 600L was only for P1V.

彩雲 増槽 Add.jpg (36.17 KiB) Viewed 878 times

銀河 増槽.jpg (96.04 KiB) Viewed 878 times

fontessa

[ShindenKai]

Fontessa, whats the unusual bulge in the D4Y1-C Suisei’s bomb-bay?? Appears to be another, third drop-tank, does not have the fins of a bomb..

[fontessa]

Fontessa, whats the unusual bulge in the D4Y1-C Suisei’s bomb-bay?? Appears to be another, third drop-tank, does not have the fins of a bomb..

Brady had uploaded this photo. According to the caption, this D4Y1-C hinged an additional drop tank on the center line for a long range reconnaissance.
The caption also says that the U.S. captured this photo on Saipan or Tinian.
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=257406

fontessa

[ShindenKai]

Thank you Fontessa!

[ShindenKai]

Go to 4:20+ Video shows the manufacture of wooden drop-tanks.. seems to be very similar to type used on Ki-43 Hayabusa, light enough to be carried by one woman when completed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W71lp1UcGc8