Centerline tank or optical illusion

[ffuries]

At the 2017 Gulf Coast Salute yesterday at Tyndall AFB one of the few pictures I took (Kinda hard to take pictures withhout your glasses) anyways it appears to show one of the Thunderbird's with a centerline tank. Now I never recalled seeing them fly the show with one before. So is it a tank, optical illusion, or something else? It is the far left bird in the picture.

[Randy Wilson]

My guess is a "carry" pod for the crew of the two-seater baggage, etc.

Randy

[Ken]

It's a tank because it's a 2-seater and they have reduced internal gas.

[ffuries]

It's a tank because it's a 2-seater and they have reduced internal gas.

So a two seater would fly the show with a tank on? Wow the stuff you learn, been watching air shows since I can remember and never noticed that before.

[Chris Brame]

it's a 2-seater and they have reduced internal gas.

I was wondering what that awful smell was when they hit afterburner...
(Hey, c'mon, you handed me the straight line on a silver platter!)

[airnutz]

BADUM-BUMP! NOW, WHEN I SAY TAKE MY WIFE...I MEAN TAKE MY WIFE...BADUM-BUMP!

[ffuries]

Darn yall are a gas.......

[Jerry O'Neill]

Might have been during the practice show.

[ffuries]

Might have been during the practice show.

It was during the main show on Saturday, I believe today's show was a bust due to cloud coverage and some rain.

[Malo83]

T-birds fly a loose formation compared to the Blue Angels who fly very tight.

[Cvairwerks]

A two seater can fly the show on internal fuel no problem. I would suspect that they had a problem with the handling dolly and chose not to remove the tank without it. It can be done, but it's an s.o.b. to rehang without it. Hung the #5 pylon and tank hundreds of times over the years. Travel pods normally go on Stations 3 and 6, although a few were built for #5 for us at the plant. It takes 3 guys to open or close on of those, rather than the 1 for a normal pod.

[Invader26]

They fly the T-Bird often in practice for the shows with journos and other riders to get a glimpse of the team at work as a PR exercise. The pod s a travel pack...

[ffuries]

They fly the T-Bird often in practice for the shows with journos and other riders to get a glimpse of the team at work as a PR exercise. The pod s a travel pack...

This picture was taken during the main show on Saturday. They did their practice run Friday, and the media flight was done on Friday also, the show was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

[Randy Haskin]

T-birds fly a loose formation compared to the Blue Angels who fly very tight.

It actually has to do with the fact that the Blues fly a formation that is stacked more vertically, allowing 2 and 3 to have their wingtips closer to one another. The T-Birds fly a flatter formation that is just as tight, but doesn't look as impressive.

[Ken]

You were not the only ones to wonder:

https://jcandmeiworld.wordpress.com/201 ... %EF%BB%BF/

A more likely explanation is that the #7 jet flew as an unplanned spare and they did not take the time to remove the tank.

Ken