In the second part of the series we will examine the drop tanks of Mitsubishi A5M "Claude".
The earlier types of the aircraft until A5M2a had an 160ℓ drop tank as shown below.
Below is an illustration by Devlin Chouinard based on the official aircraft service manual.
2. front metal attachment
3. drop line
4. release lever
5. fuel flow control lever
6. fuel capacity indicator
7. rear metal attachment
8. fuselage frame
9. drop tank in release position
From A5M2b, the earlier drop tank was replaced by either a 160ℓ...
...or a 210ℓ drop tank.
Note the not-so-pristine condition of the tank below.
As before, below is an illustration by Devlin Chouinard based on the official aircraft service manual.
2. release lever
3. anti-vibration metal attachment
4. tank attachment rack
5. attachment metal for the rack
6. 160ℓ tank
7. 210ℓ tank
Beautiful artwork as always, seeing information with this much detail so long after the final real world examples disappear is always amazing. I know I’m 3 years too late but since you’ve done so well at immortalizing these things it’s worth a go, you mention using a service manual for the technical information? Is this an original document and is it still available somewhere? I haven’t seen too many detailed articles or books besides Maru and FAOW on the Claude and if something with anything remotely close to the amount of technical detail you’ve been able to recreate exists it would be amazing to see. If you ever see this message, thank you!
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