[quote=EGAC;3024433] The plane, a US Navy Neptune patrol aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed and nicknamed "Truculent Turtle," was specially fitted with extra gasoline tanks to test its capacity for long-distance flight.
Just a thought......presumably the fuel was calculated to last for as long as the test was scheduled to continue, which I guess was how long it did continue.
So what was supposed to happen if it turned out that some other essential component had no capacity for long-distance flight, and failed before the end of the programmed test duration? What did they expect might not have a capacity for long-distance flight, that needed to be tested to find out?