Evening star., 1940-05-09
Plane Firm 10 Show
Puncture-Proof
Fuel Tanks
Holes Made by Bullets
ReseoIed Effectively.
OfficiuIs Assert
BY ROBERT BRUSKIN,
Star Stan Correspondent.

BY ROBERT BRUSKIN,
Star Stan Correspondent.
MIDDLE RIVER, Md, May o.
One American answer to the Leak
proof fuel tanks of belligerent war
planes, which have returned to
safety despite bullet holes that
would have downed an Army or
Navy plane, will be demonstrated
today.
The Glenn L. Martin Co., bomber
manufacturers, arranged the public
tests Immediately after its announce
ment Of the perfection Of a self
r4ng tank which prevents the escape
of gasoline through bullet punctures
and minimizes the possibility of fire.
Company officials predicted it was
more efficient than any developed in
Germany, France or Great Britain.
The tests were arranged in IAN
ticipation of future needs" week
after Maj. Gen. H. H. Arnold, chief
of the Army Air Corps, listed pune
ture-proof tanks as must" for fu-
ture Warplanes. Senator Lodge, Re-
publican, of Massachusetts, declared
that by European standards, Amer
3can planes were obsolete"
Holes Sealed Instantly.
Developed in the Martin labora-
tories from the leak retarding
Mereng Cell, a synthetic rubber tank
which was used in Martin bombers
exported to the French and Chinese,
the new fuel tanks ''seal the holes
instantly, permitting airplanes not
only to return safely, but to continue
action Immediately" the company
announced.
An official of the firm disclosed
that in previous tests II bullets from
80 and so caliber machine-gun
had been fired intN small tank and
mo more than a drop of gasoline
was lost Tracer bullets failed to
fire the tank contents, he said, since
the puncture was sealed instantly
and oxygen was kept out. The COM
pany, however, does not claim it to
be flreproof.
Made of limp synthetic rubber of
q closely guarded composition, the
tank resembles the inner tube of
tire in that it can be stuffed into
any open space and is easily re-
movable for patching. Unlike metal
tanks it is free from corrosion, is
not susceptible to vibration failure
normal in metal tanks, is lighter
in weight and has a greater capacity,
a spokesman said.
Arranged for Eevsmen.
The tests will begin about o'clock
this afternoon on the Martin prov
ing ground where Lester P. Barlow,
an employe, demonstrated last
March 26 the power of a new ex-
plosive, liquid oxygen-carbon mix
ture called Glmite. Although the
demonstration was arranged for
newsmen, several representatives of
the Army and Navy were expected to
attend.
An ordinary metal fuel tank will
be punctured with bullets from a
80 and so calibe- machine gun and
probably set afire by tracer bullets
as prelude to the test on the self
sealing tank. The same number of
bullets then will be fired into a Sec
ton of the newly developed tank.
The new tank is the outgrowth Of
one developed by Germany. The
allies we're reported to have learned
first of its manufacturing process
when a Dornier bomber was shot
down in Northern England last
January. It was rumored that Sec
ton of the tank was brought to this
country. The Nazi fuel tank was
made of a flbrous material, crude
rubber. treated rubber and was in
cased in leather. AS bullets pene-
trated the tank, the rubber oozed
into the holes and closed them.
Returned with so Punctures.
The British quickly adopted the
plan, and one of their war planes
was reported to have returned safe
" to its base with go or more bullet
punctures in an emergency tank
with only 20 out of 100 gallons lost.
A Chinese pilot, flying a Martin
bomber equipped with a Mereng
Cell, was said by the company to
have returned safely from raid
against japanese with 10 bullet holes
In a gas tank.
Experiments have been conduct
ed on self-sealing tanks at the
Army's Wright Field, in Ohio, and
+ new deliveries to the Army are re-
ported to have been equipped with
such a tank. Details of the tank
are confidential, but it was said the
Army tank, like those abroad, de-
pends on raw rubber to close bullet
punctures.
The Army tests were begun years
ago, an official said, but "the de-
velopment Of the project at that
time had not progressed to point"
where it was satisfactory, and the
tests were stopped. They were re-
sumed before the start of the Euro
pean war and before public dis
closure that belligerent planes were