A month or so back during a site safety inspection at a scrap yard in western KS. I found and took home a WW II Oxygen tank that was heading for the crusher!
A few here will recall seeing such tanks frequently years ago converted to air bubbles. Back then I had no clue what they were but I thought them bloody ugly as sin. I could have had a mountain of them had I bought every one I encountered at swap meets.
Once I realized what they were only a few years ago I wanted one. These tanks were installed in the B-17, the B-24 and the B-25, all unpressurized aircraft. These tanks supplied the breathing air to crews during missions. The B-17 had either 17 or 18 such tanks located throughout the plane.
The significance of these tanks is great. Men's lives depended on the oxygen these tanks contained. When considered like that for me, the two I now have are worth saving and hopefully at some point restoring. I would like to wall hang them once preserved and integrate them into a plumbed compressed air line system for my shop.
Ya, I do like some oddball stuff for sure. If you have never seen one they are roughly 12" diameter. X 24" long. Most of the length of these tanks are wrapped in thin metal straps spaced 3-4" apart. Finding one in bright yellow or a lime green like color with their original black words and marking is unlikely. A few traces of color may be found but most wear other colors, or no colors except the metal on the tank.
When new, the tanks were designed for pressure exceeding 300PSI. And were called low pressure by the military! Designed not to burst and throw shrapnel if hit by flak during combat. That was the purpose of the described rib strips.
So there ya go, more worthless info I share that has no relevance in 2026 to most everyone except me!