fire

[B@tfinkV]

i wish for fires that start smaller and either go out or get bigger. sometimes just a little lick of flame down the canopy or on the engine mounting that gives you a warning that youre going down soon if you cant put it out. not to replace current fires just to go alongside.
i wish that when a plane caught on fire it burst into flames with a small explosion sometimes like when a 20mm shell hits a fuel tank.
Drop tanks! hit a drop tank with a heavy weapon would it not explode into flames? maybe you could even drop it quickly and not catch the plane on fire
few small tweaks and randomisation might really give us an enjoyment boost, everytime the graphics are redone on a plane i know it increases my enjoyment.

[Spikes]

Agreed!

[Denholm]

Originally posted by B@tfinkV
...Drop tanks! hit a drop tank with a heavy weapon would it not explode into flames?...

You would need tracers active for this to work. Contrary to popular belief, a bullet striking a flammable object will not ignite it. Lead does not cause sparks, especially when rubbing against DT materials.

[B@tfinkV]

tracers for 50cals, no need for explosive cannon.

Originally posted by Oldman731

From JG 26 - Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, by Donald L. Caldwell (Ivy Books, New York 1991), ISBN 0-8041-1050-6 (First Ballentine Edition, June 1993), at page 276:

[The following occurred on the afternoon of September 17, 1944 - the first day of Operation Market-Garden]:

 [snip]Oblt. Schild hit the Number 2 Mustang’s drop tank, and it dove away trailing a solid sheet of flame.[/snip]  

[Hornet33]

Yeah tracers wont spark it off either. A 20mm cannon HE shell will though and I think that's what Bat was talking about.

[Larry]

I would think that a FMJ bullet hitting an aluminium drop tank could make a spark big enough to make high octane fuel ignite. On the other hand a tracer passing through a drop/fuel tank would ignite the fuel because of the burning phosphorus on the back end of the bullet.

[OOZ662]

Except for the fact that American drop tanks are made from paper... Burn Axis, burn!

[Larry]

I may have to look it up but if I remember right american and british droptanks were made of aluminium and german ones were plywood.

[OOZ662]

Interesting question. I have been researching 357th airplanes for a model project for our model club, and can say that all three types were used at various periods of the 357th's existence. Early on in the groups existence when starting out with OD and Gray Mustangs, the 75 gallon (teardrop-shaped) metal tank in Neutral Gray was used. The UK-sourced, 108 gallon "cigar" shaped tank was restricted to P-47D use. After the nose checkers became common later on, the larger tanks were okayed for use on the P-51, and for the most part, the silver, 108 galloon paper tank were to be seen. The gray-painted, metal 108 gallon tanks were seen beginning some time in the fall of 1944 it sems from photos, more commonly when camoflage in the group started ti disappear towards the natural metal finished P-51Ds and Ks. As always, photos are yourbest source, but the above description is a generalization. Good luck on your project.

Click

There is a section in To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace referring to the paper drop tanks on Old Cow.

I'm sure you could find more and more reliable sources with more time.

[AirFlyer]

Originally posted by OOZ662
Except for the fact that American drop tanks are made from paper... Burn Axis, burn!

I had heard of the Japanese doing this, but never the Americans. I could be wrong though.

[Ghosth]

FMJ = copper or brass alloy, non sparking.

Aluminum DT again, Non sparking,

You can take a file, or other piece of hard steel, hit it on the right rock and get sparks all day long.

Hit copper, brass, or alloys containing these, or aluminum alloys, and never get a spark, EVER.

FMJ does not mean its cast in steel or iron. Means it has a full metal jacket of brass/copper allow wrapped around the lead core.

And no a tracer round won't ignite the fuel "in the tank" by passing through it.

It might possibly ignite VAPORS, but not the fuel.

[Denholm]

The more I think about it you're right Ghosth. Since there's minimal oxygen levels in the fuel compartments (DT or tanks) fire can't ignite to the burning point. Plus since a bullet travels at such high velocity the flame would never get a chance to ignite the fuel anyways.

However I think that if HTC were to model new damage to DTs and fuel tanks it would make for quite some fun if they could model the DTs to explode and severely damage the wing or even rip it off. Otherwise as Batfink described you drop it and the problem is fixed.

Who knows, you can probably burn a few sheep with flaming DTs. Nothing like a black sweater!

[Larry]

Denholm there is gun cam footage of a 109 with a droptank on getting shot at, and the droptank erupting into flames. So a droptank could catch fire its just youd have to hit it with the right type of bullet.

[Bronk]

Armor Piercing Incendiary


That is all.

[Airscrew]

Originally posted by OOZ662
Except for the fact that American drop tanks are made from paper... Burn Axis, burn!

I'm pretty sure the paper tanks were a temporary thing until proper sized tanks were made, not 100% sure about, I'll have to see if I can find the book I saw it in, its probably stuffed in a box somewhere... but I remember something about them being desireable because they were light weight but there were issues about the fuel eating through the paper and the doping used on the outside to keep the paper ridged..