Rare WWII drop tank found in Parkes

The piece is a drop tank from a P47 Thunderbolt that Stan Field’s father Ron, of “Mandeville”, bought at the Parkes Airport in the 1950s.

And it’s been sitting at the Back Yamma Road property in Parkes ever since.

Parkes airfield was a very important airfield during World War II, with 1000 personnel based there.

It also had a very large contingent of aircraft, both from Australia and the USA, ranging from trainers to fighter planes, such as the P47 Thunderbolt.

“At the end of the war most of the aircraft and equipment was sold off to scrappers who melted down the components leaving little for museums or collectors,” said aviation researcher and historian Grant Coles, who was alerted of the artefact a few months ago.

“Luckily, some of the equipment was sold off to local farmers who bought some equipment and aircraft, and used them for all manner of things around their farms.

“Stan Field’s father was one of these farmers.”

Ron purchased a few items at one of the auctions, including a 200 gallon petrol tank, which Grant suggested could have been used to assist with watering or firefighting around town.

What Ron had purchased was the drop tank from a P47 Thunderbolt that Grant says has enormous historical value.

“The Australian War Memorial believes that, of the 3000 tanks that were built, this is the only remaining tank in the world,” he said.

“That might sound ridiculous but they are drop tanks that were dropped from 30,000 feet and when they hit the ground, you can imagine.

“That’s why it’s remarkable that we have one in such good condition.”

A “drop tank” hung underneath an aeroplane and was used to increase the endurance of an aeroplane.

Grant said the plane would use the petrol in the drop tank and once it was emptied, the pilot would drop the tank allowing it to fall to the ground, and be destroyed. 

Stan didn’t know exactly what the tank that his father had purchased all those years ago was, only that it was part of a plane that had been sitting his shed for 70 years.

And that it was fulfilling no useful purpose.

Grant was told of the tank by another Parkes farmer Edwin Nash, who also had some aeroplane artefacts on his Goonumbla property that were gifted to the RAAF Museum in October 2014.

Grant travelled to Parkes on Thursday night to collect the tank to take it to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to authenticate it.

“With some assistance from the Australian War Memorial we quickly established what the tank was and how historically important it is and that it must be saved,” Grant said.

“When I first saw it, I was confused because I didn’t know what it was.

“I sent photos to an aviation expert at the Australian War Memorial and it took him three weeks to work it out because he didn’t know what it was either.

“It is in remarkably good condition, still with the original paint, stencilling and oil stains on it.”  

The tank has now been donated to the War Memorial.

Mike Etzel, assistant curator at the Memorial described it as “a very worthy addition to the National Collection due to its connection with Australian manufacturing during WWII and the contribution made by Ford Australia”.

“I have no idea how much my father paid for it but it wouldn’t have been much,” Stan said.

“I’m happy to see it go where it can be made use of.”

Grant is asking if anyone else in the Parkes Shire or surrounding areas has any aircraft parts (no matter how big or small), to please contact him on 0438 530 318.

A bit of history:

P47 was not designed with a drop tank but when it arrived in Australia it was quickly realised that it would need one if it would be able to take the fight to the Japanese.

General Douglas MacArthur ordered some tanks from America, but when they arrived he described them as “rubbish” and asked the ground crew to design their own tank and to make a mock up, which they did in two days.

MacArthur then contracted Ford Motor Corporation Australia to build these tanks – which they did with great success.

The drop tank gave the P47s the ability to fly much further and greatly surprised the Japanese allowing the Americans take control in the skies above Papua New Guinea.

The tanks proved so successful that Ford Motor Corporation built thousands of them and exported most of them to Europe to help the allies fight Germany over the skies of Europe. 

The Australian-built drop tanks extended the range of the Thunderbolts, which could previously only fly to France, to fly from England to Germany. 

It also allowed the Thunderbolts to escort the bombers to Germany giving the bombers protection from German Luftwaffe.