Mystery Object: Aluminum Tank
During the P-MAN IV expedition in April 2002, we examined an object that we need your help in identifying. It's a fairly large, relatively thin-walled aluminum tank with internal baffles.
Here's what
we do know about it. We found a single aluminum container,
without other obvious debris, near a picnic site popular with both Japanese and
American tourists. 
It appeared in remarkably good shape except for some jagged openings in the top surface of the structure. Its longitudinal axis lay approximately north-south. After removing most of the sand from around the structure, we identified it tentatively as an aviation-related fuel tank because of the characteristic aluminum construction with riveting and internal baffling system. One small opening was found, on the west face, toward the northern side of the tank. On the south face is a center-mounted flange. The tank has a trapezoidal shape with rounded corners, wrapping around the two flat vertical surfaces, which form the north and south walls. The tank is symmetric along all three of its axes. This symmetric shape suggested to the team that it might have been a main fuel tank possibly spanning across the fuselage over the main spar(s) of the wings, with the east and west flat walls facing fore and aft. Our best guess is that the tank had not been painted. We took key measurements: ~ 7 feet long X 3 feet wide X 2 feet tall, containing 5 internal baffles with numerous 4 inch diameter circular openings in the baffles (probably inspection holes), and photo-documented the site.
We haven't been able to identify its origin, but we're hoping that some BentProp visitor will download and view the following video clip, have a great blast of recollection, and e-mail us with a really good guess about what it is! The files listed below are basically the same clip, presented in several different media and levels of resolution. If you have a broadband connection, definitely download one of the better-quality files (I like the Real Media file best). If you have a slow dial-up internet connection, go for one of the smaller files. They've got less resolution, but you can still get a pretty good idea of the nature of this object. If you think you know what it is, please drop us a note via e-mail. We'll get back to you right away!
Larger files (better quality):
Smaller files (lower quality, but faster downloads):
- Real Media file - 376 KB (very small file, but not bad quality)
- QuickTime file - 1.3 MB