I’m not sure about those procured for the F3, but at LU during the F4 day’s the airfield was literally crammed, all around the perimeter track and elsewhere, with rotting wooden crates full of underwing fuel tanks.
When visitors asked what they were I used to explain, with as straight a face as possible, that if the runway was cratered in wartime it would be flooded and they were pontoons to fit over the wheels on the undercarriage to allow water take-offs and landings....