HE 111 bomb bay spoilers

[Debs]

Hi - come across a photo of an HE 111P while being loaded - the photo showed bomb bay spoilers (see attached photo). I've not come across them before and there seems to be very little information on them. Does anyone know how big they were and also if they were on any other German aircraft. Any help will be gratefully received.

 

[Tracker]

Looks as if the Germans were not the only ones to use this idea.

Bomb bay spoilers

Hope it helps.

 

[Debs]

Thanks for your reply - interesting as I wasn't aware of any bombers having these, however I was hoping someone would have specific info on the HE 111

 

[Airframes]

There doesn't seem to be much info around, apart from that photo and some sketches. An approximate size can be gauged by scaling from the known dimensions of the bomb bay doors, which will give a rough width and height.

 

[stona]

Earlier versions did not have the spoilers. I would hazard a guess that they had less to do with controlling airflow around the "bomb bay", which was a series of vertical cells, and more to do with the way the bombs interacted with the slipstream as they fell tail first and vertically from the aircraft.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Frantish]

The Ju-88 had forced air in bay I assume to push the bombs past the boundary, but in practice they where never used.