90 gallon drop tank

[Skewgear]

It would be excellent to have a 90 gallon drop tank as well as the existing 45 gallon options.

The tank was introduced in 1943, which is the year/mod state modelled in our Spitfire.

It's difficult to reproduce historical Spitfire mission profiles without the 90 gallon tank as from early 1944 onwards it was a routinely used piece of equipment.

[Gunfreak]

1 hour ago, Skewgear said:

It would be excellent to have a 90 gallon drop tank as well as the existing 45 gallon options.

The tank was introduced in 1943, which is the year/mod state modelled in our Spitfire.

It's difficult to reproduce historical Spitfire mission profiles without the 90 gallon tank as from early 1944 onwards it was a routinely used piece of equipment.

Read about a spitfire B17 escort mission to paris in 44. Would be hard to do without 90 gallon tank I think. 

[Skewgear]

Paris and back can be done with a 45 gallon tank provided you're happy to cruise at 190mph, don't get into combat for longer than 6-8 minutes and land at Friston. Cruising at typical bomber speeds of 230mph robs you of vital range.

Most Normandy Spitfire sorties were 2 hours long. Difficult to stay aloft for that length of time and be militarily useful without the 90 gallon tanks.

[MikeRomeoSierra1974]

I totally agree I just tried to make a Recon mission which meant staying 10 mins across the channel and taking off from Odiham and I ran out of fuel over the Isle of Wight on the return leg so it's just not enough fuel to do anything useful across the channel and get back. The manual mentions " 30, 45, 90 or 170 gallons drop tanks may be fitted onto the aircraft for long-range flights". But we just have the 45 gallon one unfortunately.

Edited September 2, 2023 by MikeRomeoSierra1974
Addition

[MJDixon]

Would be great to be able to take the Spitfire on longer trips, especially now that the Normandy map is bigger.