Me 109 Drop Tank

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

So what you think I bumped into this morning in our garden? A WW2 German drop tank, used on ME109 and FW190. Half buried but a bit of clearing and digging brought it back to the surface. It was clearly not dropped from the aircraft into my garden because it was cut in half by some person a long time ago. But I am still chuffed with it as it is a real piece of history. It even comes with bullet holes (you see I traced the bullet paths with sticks on some of the images) and marks that I can only explain as coming from shrapnel from exploding canon shells.

So now you know how an Aerosoft employee spends his mornings... digging up drop tanks. With thanks to daughter Emma who made the images (note how she cleverly included the nose of one of the dogs to show the scale of the image!)

[Sasa 921]

So now you know how an Aerosoft employee spends his mornings... digging up drop tanks.

Hmm... lunchtime. Let me go to the pool and fetch some coconuts...

Bests,

Sascha

[Robert S 75]

Wow, what a cool find! Good thing they were drop tanks and not unexploded bombs!

[palm 0]

Wow, really interesting. Makes me wanna fly my Shockwave Bf 109.

[Stefan Hoffmann 4160]

Would be however nice to know, how they came there.

I will research a little bit in some databanks.

But one you can see:

1. When the drop tanks was hit, it was already empty. Otherway there would be burn marks also at the outside

2. Why it is in two halves? Did it serve as a postwar flowerpot for militaria fans?

3. Are the penetrations wholes very high calibre bullets, they should have hit the tanks from it thinner end, more 6 o'clock position. So it seems it was a AAA or Flak hit.

However, will check on this a give feedback if I found something out.