This is a copy of my posting on the RCAF 6 Group site on 15th Nov. I am hoping for any information on extra internal fuel tanks fitted to Halifax IIs in 1943. In the RCAF 6 Group Daily Operations listing on the RCAF 6 Group site there are several mentions of aircraft returning early because of u/s or leaking fuel overload tanks, but so far I have not been able to find any further information.
As an ATC cadet in 1943 I spent a lot of my free time hanging round the dispersal site of 419 Squadron's VR-N at Middleton St George and I remember (correctly I hope), a tank shaped like a wing tank fitted "nose down" down the centre of the crew rest area above the bomb bay.
The tanks seem to have been a temporary fitting for longer range ops. such as those from February to August 1943 to Milan and Turin. I am a bit puzzled as to how a tank as large as the one I remember could be inserted into the fuselage, but my (old) memory still tells me it was fitted.