Henry Spencer wrote:
Yep, lots of compromises in some of those wartime designs... Some of the
photo-recon versions of the Spitfire had a tail tank that compromised
stability even more drastically

_Tail tank_?! Oh, I've got to see a cutaway of this! :-)
Apparently, some Soviet jets used fuel tanks in the vertical fin.
The Monogram (now it's Revell after the two companies merged)
transparent model of the P-51D has the fuselage fuel tank in it:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/rvl/rvl04726.htm
The really amazing model was the transparent Monogram 1/24th scale Bell
UH-1 "Huey" helicopter.
It took forever to spin up to full speed, but God help you if that main
rotor ever hit you at full RPM. :-D

Pat