FUEL SELECTOR

[Dkha]

Hey everyone, how’s it going? I have a question about the aircraft’s fuel selector. Here’s the thing: if I fly using only the selector on MAIN, will the plane draw fuel from the wing tanks to the main tank? Like, to avoid emptying the main tank, does it pull fuel from the wings to “refill” the main tank? Or not—are the tanks separate, so even if I run out of fuel in the main tank during flight, I’ll still have fuel in the wings? From the images, the wing fuel system goes straight to the selector and doesn’t seem to have a direct connection to the main tank. (That’s what I believe happens—if I run out of the main tank, I’ll still have fuel in the wings.)

Caption

 

[Invisibull]

You are correct in your understanding: if you fly using only the selector on MAIN, the aircraft will draw fuel only from the main (fuselage) tank. The wing tanks are separate and do not automatically feed into the main tank. If the main tank runs dry, you can still have usable fuel remaining in the wing tanks, but it will not be accessible unless you switch the selector to draw from those tanks.

[GTFreeFlyer]

Now I’m curious.  How was the procedure in real life regarding switching tanks when the fuel gage only shows main quantity?  Did the pilots start sipping from wing tanks (or external tanks) and use timers to keep track of quantities, or did they just wait until hearing the engine starting to choke before switching tanks?

[Dkha]

27 minutes ago, GTFreeFlyer said:

Agora estou curioso. Como era o procedimento na vida real em relação à troca de tanques quando o medidor de combustível mostrava apenas a quantidade principal? Os pilotos começaram a beber dos tanques das asas (ou tanques externos) e usaram cronômetros para monitorar as quantidades, ou simplesmente esperaram até ouvir o motor começar a engasgar antes de trocar os tanques?

Exactly, F4U-1D pilots had to manually calculate and monitor fuel consumption. There were no specific gauges for the auxiliary wing tanks or the external (droppable) tanks. So, they mainly used two methods:

Flight time and estimated consumption:
Pilots knew the average fuel consumption rate (gallons per hour) at different power settings. By tracking flight time with fuel selected from a certain tank, they calculated how much fuel had been used and how much remained.

Pre-flight planning and records:
Before the flight, they noted the total fuel quantity in each tank and planned the expected duration and consumption for each phase (takeoff, cruise, combat, landing). During the flight, they adjusted tank usage to ensure enough fuel for the mission and return.

Therefore, fuel management in planes like the F4U required a lot of attention and discipline from pilots to avoid running out of fuel unexpectedly.

[Saxman]

It's important to remember the F4U-1D does NOT have the auxiliary tanks in the wings. It only has the fuselage tank. The wing tanks were only present in the -1 and -1A, and were seldom used in the field because they weren't self-sealing, (they only had a fire suppression system for protection) introduced maintenance headaches, and to reduce weight. They were ultimately removed altogether in the F4U-1D and 1C, and all subsequent models.