A ferry tank is an auxiliary fuel container that is usually temporarily attached to a motorized device which it then supplies fuel. A ferry tank allows the range or endurance of the vehicle or aircraft to be extended. Ferry tanks are typically used in both

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

aviation;

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work ...

and

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

tend to use internal tanks while combat aircraft will use external tanks. In aviation, ferry tanks allow aircraft additional range to reach destinations beyond the aircraft's specified

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

when there are no available re-fueling stopover locations. For example, for an aircraft with only 1,000 miles range to be delivered from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

, which is over 2,000 miles away, the aircraft will require a ferry tank to supply it with enough fuel to travel the excess miles.

History

The first ferry tanks were

drop tank In aviation, a drop tank (external tank, wing tank or belly tank) is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often capable of being jettisoned. External tanks are commonplace on modern ...

s that fit externally on the aircraft and were used primarily by the military, allowing combat aircraft to both travel longer distances and remain in combat longer, giving advantages to air forces that utilized them on their planes. But they also made the planes vulnerable to small arms fire.

Design

AERO Friedrichshafen 2018, Friedrichshafen (1X7A4479)

Military forces often utilize external ferry tanks, allowing aircraft to travel greater distance or remain in combat longer. For example, external ferry tanks made possible the Israeli Air Force raid on the Osirak nuclear reactor known as

Operation Opera Operation Opera ( he, מבצע אופרה), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor located southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. ...

. The external tanks refill the main tank as it is depleted. Empty external tanks may be dumped in flight, known as

drop tanks In aviation, a drop tank (external tank, wing tank or belly tank) is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often capable of being jettisoned. External tanks are commonplace on modern ...

, or may be retained.

References

Aircraft fuel system components Containers {{Aviation-stub

History

Design

See also

References