Troffa Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 This one has been bugging me for a while- From my days as ground crew on Tornado F3's I am familiar with two types of external fuel tank. 1. The 2250 Litre capacity "Big Jugs" "Hindenbergers" etc. These were standard fit on the F3, metal and usually grey. 2. The 1500 Litre Capacity *Small" Tanks- These were asbestos phenolic resin- (I know because that was stencilled on the side!) These were introduced to the Fmk3 fleet later on, maybe around /after Op Granby in 1991, although they appeared to be standard fit on the GR1 fleet. They were usually grey/ green camouflaged. Now, it would also appear that there are a third tank size, perhaps used only by German or Italian IDS fleets, a 1000 Litre capacity "small" tank. see this post on the Tornado SIG where the new Revell Tornado tanks are compared against a 1000 Ltr tank drawing: http://forum.tornadosig.com/topic/7196950/1/ and this post from Dave Fleming (post 2) from right here on BM: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/5150-tornado-fuel-tanks/ The Revell 1000Ltr tanks appear to be of metal construction, and I guess are the Supersonic tanks referred to by Dave Fleming above and suitable for use on the German aircraft. So- a question for the Tornado experten- did the RAF Gr1/ Gr4 fleet use these smaller, metal 1000 ltr tanks? Cheers, Troffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Just the two sizes as far as I know, 1500ltr Small jugs and 2250ltr Big jugs. Just checked WAP Journal vol 3/1990 and it agrees, stating 1500ltr as standard fit for GR1, IDS, F2 and 2250ltr for F3 (later fitted to Gr1/4 as you are aware). I'm guessing the wording on the drawing in the link is wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Thanks for the reply Scarlet, and that was my understanding up to a few days ago- However I have just found this page that refers to the Italian and German fleets using 220 Imperial Gallon (1000Ltr) and 330 Imperial Gallon (1500 Ltr) Tanks exclusively. See the paragraph headed "Tornado Development" on the following page: http://sirviper.com/index.php?page=fighters/tornado/tornado_ids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Warton had a pair of these 220 gallon tanks fitted with flight test instrumentation, but they were not in the list of stores initially cleared for the GR Mk.1. I don't believe they were ever cleared for the RAF, which would seem to line up with Troffa's experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Thanks for that Graham- I am scouring my Tornado references for any mention of the 1000 Ltr tank in black and white. I will keep an eye out for any photographs of Flight test kit. Cheers, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 220 gallon tanks development aircraft only? All photos of in service IDS jets seem to have 330's fitted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) As an ex RAF plumber I have never fitted a 1000ltr tank to any flavour of tornado. Edited August 27, 2014 by mackem 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 maybe 1000L tanks are misslabled in the drawing and actually are meant to be 1500L ? just a thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike7451 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 As an ex RAF plumber I have never fitted a 1000ltr tank to any flavour of tornado. Same here,I don't remember fitting them,just the bigger ones...(hopefully empty!..mackem'll know what I mean!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Same here,I don't remember fitting them,just the bigger ones...(hopefully empty!..mackem'll know what I mean!) Cocking off !!! Followed by a plumber been catapulted off the wendy and wet feet.....time for a smoke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 I think this is the crux of the issue- I am quite certain that the 220 Imp. Gallon (1000 Ltr) tanks did not see RAF service, so it is unsurprising that none of we ex-light blues can recall working with them, but I do believe that they are more common place on the IDS of the German fleets at the least-and the use of these tanks reported at Warton by Graham above is a good indicator of their availability. unfortunately at the moment I lack any hard references that can confirm the extent of their use by the European Tornado users. I think that the weld detail on the Revell IDS tanks indicates metal construction, and the 1500 Ltr tanks have a smooth finish, unblemished by any joins or seams. I am working on the following theory: The 1000 Ltr metal tank don't appear to ever have been configured with 4 fins, where as the 1500 Resin tanks were initially fitted with four fins, and even when the to two fins were removed from the tanks their mounting points are still evident. So- German Tornado with "Small" Tanks with 4 fins or Provision for top two fins= 1500Ltr (330 Imp Gallon) German Tornado with "Small" tanks with visible seams and no top fins or provision for top fins= 1000Ltr (220 Imp Gallon) I probably could have worded that better but I'm just in from work and my head is still full of rabbits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 would be interesting to see if the current Typhoon 1000ltr tank is the same thing... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike7451 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Cocking off !!! Followed by a plumber been catapulted off the wendy and wet feet.....time for a smoke Even worse when you use the blinkin Hernai Bars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 That's a good point Mackem, thanks for mentioning the Typhoon tanks- another avenue of investigation. Now back to your regular programming, "Spike's plumbers reminiscences", in progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Even worse when you use the blinkin Hernai Bars! I forgot about that scenario ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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