Here are some extraordinary photographs showing how fuel tanks are being used today.
External tanks are extremely important for military aircraft as they provide fuel to integrate internal tanks and extend fighters and bombers endurance.
Indeed, even if they can be refueled by aerial tankers, tactical jet planes heavily rely on the JP-8 fuel loaded on the external fuel tanks. However, the auxiliary fuel tanks represent an additional weight, additional drag, and they will reduce the aircraft maneuverability.
In real combat, external fuel tanks are jettisoned when empty or as soon as the aircraft needs to get rid of them to accelerate and maneuver against an enemy fighter plane or to evade a surface to air missile.
Several thousand drop tanks were jettisoned over Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
And here you can see what happened to some of those that were recovered.
The locals also like to use the outer shells of cluster munition and napalm pods as planters.
After WWII German manufacturers used recovered drop tanks as the bodies for 2 seat cars. 1 behind the other & I believe it was Messerschmitt.
USAF was a main provider of scrap aluminum to the south east asian villagers to be melted down to make rice pots, with a little help from the Soviets and Chinese. Nothing has changed.
During Vietnam, the fuel would have more likely been JP-4 (Air Force) or JP-5 (Navy). JP-8 didn’t come onto the scene until the 1990s.
Back it the US surplus “Belly Tanks” are turned into Belly Tankers Race Cars for the Drag Strip, Salt Flats Ect..
They turned what we left behind into lil’ motor boats lol…