Storage in ww2 fighters?

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

On the Spitfire and Hurricane, a small bag could be wedged into the radio compartment. The Bf109 had a storage facility, again accessed via the radio hatch, for the carriage of survival equipment for desert use, which consisted of a survival and first aid pack, extra water, and a Kar98K rifle.

Being a gun collector, I sometimes see in the RIA auction brochures (Rock Island Armory- in my State) Luftwaffe survival weapons- a Drilling, usually a 12 gauge double shotgun with a metric rifle cal. barrel-in an aluminum case, with ammo, cleaning kit, etc. Krieghoff, Sauer, other makers. It is also well know that "Fat-Boy" Goering was an avid hunter and gun collector. Where would a pilot ever find room for such a bulky item, and how would he hold it while bailing out and deploying his 'chute?? And why would he need it if bailing out over German controlled land below. Most Luftwaffe pilots carried a sidearm with extra magazines, usually Luger pistole '08- possibly a Walther P-38, both in 9mm parabellum. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks, Hansie

 

[Graeme]

But I know from cutaways of aircraft that the fuselage behind the pilot was often fairly hollow

No.96 - Equipment/baggage compartment door. Dewoitine D.520...

 

[MIflyer]

The P-38 did have a baggage compartment in the rear of the boom. There was even an episode of Black Sheep where they showed it.

The P-35 had a large rear baggage compartment because it was derived from a 2 seat airplane. Seversky even had seat installed there so his wife could accompany him on demonstration flights. If a P-35 flipped over on its back the pilot could release his seat back and escape through the baggage compartment. The P-43 and P-47 were able to accommodate a turbosupercharger in the aft fuselage by using that extra space.

And old movie, Flight Command, featured F3F's, and at one point they landed on the beach, removed the radio transmitter from the compartment behind the cockpit, and loaded an injured man in there to fly him back to the base. The F4F had enough room behind the cockpit and a hatch big enough to get someone in there but I don't know if it was ever done.

Hans Ulrich Rudel described flying an FW-190 with I think two Germans in the aft fuselage to escape the Soviets.

Jets used baggage pods. The T-33A had a baggage pod as did most jet fighter type aircraft; a friend of mine lost his clothes when the pod fell off soon after takeoff. When they grounded their F-102's at Thule one unit worked all night to fit a .50 cal in a T-33A baggage pod so the could have at least one armed airplane available. One night we worked until the wee hours to repair some F-105 auxillary fuel tank pressure regulators to get the Wild Weasel unit at George AFB back in the air so they could deploy to Europe. They flew them in to us in an F-4 baggage pod.

 

[Airframes]

The Kar98K and survival kit in the Bf109s flown in desert conditions, i.e. North Africa, were intended for use in the case of a forced landing. Of course, if the pilot had to bail out, then he couldn't take these with him, as they were stored in the rear fuselage, some 6.5 feet aft of the cockpit !
Luftwaffe bomber and other large aircraft aircrew, normally carried the Luger P08, sometimes, later in the war, the Walther P38, whereas the standard sidearm for fighter pilots was the Walther PPK.

 

[swampyankee]

Long term, the short range resulting from the lack of tea pot was a big drawback on the Spitfire. PR versions had a "Goblin teas maid" installed. BTW Spitfires had a cup and saucer while Hurricanes had an enamel mug.

Since you bring the up mugs, did any of these aircraft carry thundermugs? Some of those missions could be pretty long....

 

[Shortround6]

Long term, the short range resulting from the lack of tea pot was a big drawback on the Spitfire. PR versions had a "Goblin teas maid" installed. BTW Spitfires had a cup and saucer while Hurricanes had an enamel mug.

Gladiators, Defiants and Blenheims got tin cups, dented.

 

[fubar57]

Didn't the P-51 have a "relief" tube?

 

[fubar57]

 

[fubar57]

From "I was a P-51 Fighter Pilot in WWII"

 

[fubar57]

From "Fighter Group:The 352nd "Blue-Nosed Bastards" in World War II" By Lt Col Jay A. Stout

 

[MIflyer]

Famous story about the time an F-106A did a little stunt flying around a B-52, pulled up next to the bomber and said, "How did you like that?"

The bomber pilot replied, "You think that was so great, watch this."

15 Min later the bomber pilot radioed, "How did you like that?"

The 106 pilot replied, "Like what? I didn't see anything."

The bomber pilot replied, "I shut down two engines, went in the back, and took a crap."

 

[Peter Gunn]

From "Fighter Group:The 352nd "Blue-Nosed Bastards" in World War II" By Lt Col Jay A. Stout

View attachment 479626

So, don't want to follow the flight in front of you too close then...

On a more serious note, what happens if last nights dinner decides it's time to exit?

 

[MIflyer]

Relief tubes were notorious for freezing up - and backing up. On jets they went to "Piddle Packs," plastic bags with sponges in them, that featured a kind of tube coming off the top. We had a type of piddle pack in our office at Tinker AFB that had been a subject of complaints. I can well imagine why. Anything larger in diameter than, say, a Sharpie marker, would have had hard time getting into that tube. What we were doing with the thing I have no idea. We did cockpit air conditioning and pressurization, oxygen systems, G suits. etc. I have no idea what that had to do with piddle packs.

 

[BiffF15]

So, don't want to follow the flight in front of you too close then...

On a more serious note, what happens if last nights dinner decides it's time to exit?

Dinner is a tougher one to get rid of. I know guys who have done it, but it's not easy and can take quite a while. Better off just landing...

 

[Peter Gunn]

^^^ Yeah, the inquisitive part of the brain says, "huh, I wonder how..." and the other 90% of grey matter yells "TMI..." and shuts down.

Although in a Mustang 400 miles from home... yeah, that could be a problem.

 

[BiffF15]

I can tell you that the guys who have it the worst are the U-2 bro's. Way too many hours airborne, and you can't use a piddle pack...

 

[Peter Gunn]

I can tell you that the guys who have it the worst are the U-2 bro's. Way too many hours airborne, and you can't use a piddle pack...

Ouch...

 

[MIflyer]

And that is why the SR-71 and U-2 pilots were very careful what they ate before the mission. Steak and eggs was preferred, low residue, high protein. We used to joke that before some meetings we were in we needed to use the same approach.

I recall reading where a pilot ferrying a P-39 to the Soviets across Alaska brought along a ham sandwich. After cruising along for a while he took a bite out of the sandwich, decided it was stale, rolled down the window and tossed it out. The sandwich got sucked into the carb air intake behind the cockpit and that was the end of that flight! Take a look at the P-63 pilot's handbook and you'll see that they gave a lot of thought to alternate air intake paths for the engine.

 

[Crimea_River]

Stowage for 4 thermos bottles for tea, coffee, or soup on a Mosquito.

 

[Crimea_River]

And the "Urinary Container" in a Mosquito: