WWI BOmbers and the relief tube

[Niceoldguy58]

Does anyone know if the big British (O/100 and O/400) and German bombers (Gotha, Zepplin, etc.) have relief tubes fitted?

AlanG

 

[nuuumannn]

Hi Alan, can't say I know the answer, but those big bombers were sufficiently designed to enable the crew to move about in flight, so slinging their hook so to speak shouldn't have been that difficult. I looked in Peter Groz's bible on the German R planes and his English translation of the German manual "Construction and Delivery Specifications for R-Planes - 1917" doesn't mention anything about this element, not even under the section, 'Other installations', which leads me to suspect they did it airship style, pissing into a pot where the contents were dumped overboard. The technical specs for the R planes stressed the need for moving about within the aircraft in flight, to maintain engines and other systems, so it would seem natural that this might be a means of relieving one's self. As for the HP bombers, again, not sure about them, but the bed pan approach appears logical.

Airships didn't have lavatories, they added weight. Mess facilities were pretty basic and crews did their business in containers. Most had mess areas sectioned off behind curtains up in the hull under the gas cells in the extremities of the ship. There was really no privacy at all, crews sleeping in hammocks slung between structural members in the hull.

 

[herman1rg]

Hi Alan, can't say I know the answer, but those big bombers were sufficiently designed to enable the crew to move about in flight, so slinging their hook so to speak shouldn't have been that difficult. I looked in Peter Groz's bible on the German R planes and his English translation of the German manual "Construction and Delivery Specifications for R-Planes - 1917" doesn't mention anything about this element, not even under the section, 'Other installations', which leads me to suspect they did it airship style, pissing into a pot where the contents were dumped overboard. The technical specs for the R planes stressed the need for moving about within the aircraft in flight, to maintain engines and other systems, so it would seem natural that this might be a means of relieving one's self. As for the HP bombers, again, not sure about them, but the bed pan approach appears logical.

Airships didn't have lavatories, they added weight. Mess facilities were pretty basic and crews did their business in containers. Most had mess areas sectioned off behind curtains up in the hull under the gas cells in the extremities of the ship. There was really no privacy at all, crews sleeping in hammocks slung between structural members in the hull.

"Gott in Himmel!, the British are dropping pisspots on us!!

Words uttered by a German WW1 soldier.