External tanks are extremely important for military aircraft as they provide fuel to integrate internal tanks and extend fighters and bombers endurance.
Indeed, even if they can be refueled by aerial tankers, tactical jet planes heavily rely on the JP-8 fuel loaded on the external fuel tanks. However, the auxiliary fuel tanks represent an additional weight, additional drag, and they will reduce the aircraft maneuverability.
In real combat, external fuel tanks are jettisoned when empty or as soon as the aircraft needs to get rid of them to accelerate and maneuver against an enemy fighter plane or to evade a surface to air missile.
Several thousand drop tanks were jettisoned over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
This kinda stuff is always interesting. I read a book once about artists in the Viet Cong who went up to the US bases and painted pictures of their positions and stuff, then hid their pictures in empty US flare canisters for the rest of their dudes to find before attacking.
Also, unintentionally hilarious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Louy7zH9guw
sonidero wrote:Roll a plus 13 for fire and with my immunity to wack I dodge the cough and pass a turn to chill and look at these rocks...
kbithecrowing wrote:Making out with my girl friday night, I couldn't stop thinking about flangers.
I started a new blog about learning new skills and information. I'll be moving it to a wordpress once I do the design, but for now it's here: http://skilljunk.blogspot.com/
Also,
D.o.S. wrote:You're like a walking Mad Men episode.
BitchPudding wrote:DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, LORD JFREY.
friendship wrote:one cool thing about living is that things get worse and worse and worse until you die