Nicely done. Wonder why he didn't drop the external fuel tanks in the ocean? Surely emptied them first, but still. Read somewhere: "pilots who fly planes with retractable gear either HAVE landed gear up at least once, or WILL...."
Kurt- Most of the external tanks now are very expensive, do not weigh very much empty and are seldom jettisonned. They are not the cardboard and resin tanks of WW-II or even the small externals of Korea. Nearly all are cleared through the entire performance envelope of the aircraft.
Fair enough Taz but from the looks of the gear arrangement if he had missed that support the tanks would have hit, and at the speed he was descending at the end I bet would have damaged the wings/hardpoints as well as the nose. P-38 belly tanks weren't cardboard Image Unavailable, Please Login
T- During take-off, the external tanks are selected and empty pretty quickly during and after take-off, as their fuel is transferred automatically into the main feed tank as that tank emptys. N- Nope, the larger tanks were aluminum.
