htfinley

I was just watching the most extensive actual film of VMF 214 I've ever seen, and seeing the planes brings to mind a question I've always wondered about. On some Corsairs, they have a strange white outline shape painted on the top of the fuselage right in front of the canopy. Kind of a square shape I can't describe really, painted in white (I assume). What is this shape for? Isn't the gas tank directly underneath it? Thank you.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

The lame answer to your question is its duck tape. To seal the fuel tank.

htfinley

Thank you, So far that's the only answer that came in, and it only leads to more questions. I know the gas tank is under there, But imagining the tank, it would have to be similar to the gas tank on a car or any other kind of tank. A simple sheet metal tank made of 2 halves welded together, then wrapped in rubber and leather to make it "self sealing" to slow down any leak caused by a bullet hole. The tank would have a filler neck coming up through an opening in the top of the fuselage sheet metal. That's the way I envision it. The sheet metal of the fuselage would not be an actual wall of the fuel tank itself, so why would it need taping of to seal it? Duct tape in 1942? Further, if the tank were leaking around the edges of the outer sheet metal, it would soak any tape and dissolve the adhesive, and the tape would quickly strip off in the 400 mph wind. Somehow, that answer just doesn't make sense.

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

with the tape on, th fuel tanks are still leaking, just not out the top, up around the windscreen and canopy. When the tape gets old and gummy, put on more.

htfinley

Wow, so that's all it is, just tape. Not some special painted marking.So they simply put tape on the seams in the sheet metal to keep gas from fouling the wind shield, for the poor slob that ended up flying an old plane, just to squeeze a few more missions out of it. I know they pushed the cockpit way back so they could put a big gas tank where the cockpit should be. So there's the pilot getting shot at, with a huge tank of gas right in front of him, going 400mph. I know many American planes had "self-sealing" fuel tanks. But to a bullet, that sheet metal, rubber, leather and whatever is nothing. Seems to me if the enemy was using incindiary bullets, then all it would take was one hit in the tank and the pilot would be instantly vaporized in a huge fireball. Makes you wonder why they didn't put the tank BEHIND the pilot, except that might throw off the center of balance of the plane. I'm not sure I'd like flying into a hell of flak and bullets with a gigantic tank of gas practically sitting in my lap. I guess that's why they call them The Greatest Generation. Thanks. PS: just tape to stop leaking That's wild. Ya learn something new every day.

Hydro Junkie

To understand the design of the Corsair, you have to go back and look at how the design evolved. The Corsair was originally designed with "wet wings", like a P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk/Warhawk series. That meant that both wings had fuel tanks in their structure, a feature that was removed when the wing mounted M2 Browning machine guns were increased from one per wing to three. This left the only option on where to put the 237 gallon fuel tank where it ended up, between the engine firewall and the cockpit, which was slid 32" aft. This was also where the fuel tank was in the Supermarine Spitfire as well as a "header tank" in the Hawker Hurricane. The location of the fuel tank must not have been a big liability since only 189 were shot down by Japanese fighters during WWII. Just for the record, the P-51D, H and K Mustangs had a fuel tank added behind the cockpit to replace the fuel capacity lost when the plane was redesigned with an additional Browning installed in each wing from the original twin gun arrangement used in the P-51, P-51A, P-51B, A-36 dive bomber variant and F2A photo-recon variant. What ended up happening is the extra weight of the full rear tank changed the balance of the aircraft, thus making it unable to maneuver rapidly with the tank full. After several pilots were killed due to this, all bubble canopied Mustangs pilots were required to use the rear tank first, followed by the drop tanks.

Hydro Junkie

To understand the design of the Corsair, you have to follow the evolutions it went through. The Corsair was originally built with "wet wings", meaning there were fuel tanks in each wing. Each wing also had a single .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun, supplementing a pair of .30 caliber weapons firing through the prop. Due to reports coming in from the European war, the twin nose mounted .30s were removed and an additional pair of Brownings were added to each wing. This required the wing tanks to be removed with the 237 gallon fuel tank located between the engine fire wall and cockpit, a change that moved the cockpit aft 32" and added to the planes nose. This arrangement was also found in the Supermarine Spitfire and a similarly located "header tank" in the Hawker Hurricane.
As to why the fuel tank wasn't installed behind the cockpit, you are correct, it was due to the balance of the plane. This very situation came up with the P-51 Mustang. When North American redesigned the Mustang to use the Rolls Royce Merlin instead of the 350 pound lighter 1710 Allison, they found that the wing needed to be moved a few inches forward. They also found that an additional 85 gallon fuel tank could be installed behind the cockpit. This worked fine in the B and C versions, but with the new "bubble canopied" D version, the rear tank upset the aircraft's balance, making the plane unable to maneuver quickly with the tank full. After several inexperienced pilots were killed in the resulting crashes, the pilots of all bubble canopied Mustangs were told to use the rear tank first, then switch to the underwing drop tanks.