Did WWII aircraft have rest rooms?

[GARY HILTON]

I don't know if the story is true or not, but it sure sounded good to me....

How this P-47 got it's name......

The crew of this yet un-named P-47 had a squawk written up on the aircraft by the pilot...it stated that the relief tube was too short...getting to work preping the fighter for the next mission, and taking care of all the maintenence issues, the inspecting mechanic dove into this important write-up...After his superb evaluation, he wrote back in the aircraft maintenence log..."Inspected relief tube...discovered the problem , relief tube satisfactory, pilot too short....The Jug was later named "BIG STUD"

[David_Aiken]

Once too often I was asked, "why do you research the PTO?"...

Exsperated, I retorted, "We know so much about the Luftwaffe, that we can now identify a German ace by the size and shape of the relief tube. I am interested in virgin territory!" lol

[Django]

Nice David!

[Taigh Ramey]

Here is a shot of the can and the toilet paper holder in the B-29 Enola Gay which is just forward of the radar operators table on the left side of the fuselage in the aft pressure compartment.



Bernie Poppert tells a great story when he was giving a tour through the Enola Gay to one of the original crew members who flew on the Hiroshima Mission when the plane was at Garber (I am sorry I can't remember which crew member it was) . When they were standing where the photo was taken he asked Bernie if he knew what they called the potty back in WWII. Bernie said no and he replied that they called it the "Tokyo Bombsight".

It may not be politically correct but it is historically accurate.

[tom d. friedman]

now that is historic!! my late dad related the potty on the old ford tin goose from island airlines had a bomb bay of it's own........ an open toity hole where the cakka doody dropped!! learned that bit of aviation history in 1976 when i flew on her to the lake erie bass islands for an ice fishing trip. great memory & trivia for a then 15 year old.

[gflinch]

Maybe I am just dumb, BUT....

What is the use of chemicals in a toilet when the flush could just open a hatch? I mean you are dropping bombs on the enemy, why not "other" bombs as well. Not really being funny, though, doesn't it make sense? I don't think in the '40s there was the enviromental concerns as there are today. Really don't think the scientists where really thinking "green" when they made nukes.

[Django]

I'm surprised that in the B-29 that the toilet and the TP holder were white, and not ZC.

[Jesse C.]

I remember reading somewhere about the crews of some B-24's who would urinate out the side windows when they got low enough to take off their gear and that it would be taken by the slipstream right into the rear turret! They called it The Yellow Peril!

They also mentioned a small box made of waxed cardboard for the brown menace!

[Ken]

I'm sure more than one honey bucket liner (plastic bag) has departed the back of a C-130 when the ramp and door were open on an airdrop run-in. The funniest stories of the E-model bucket revolves around the fact that the bucket (which looked along the lines of the Enola Gay device) was mounted on a spring mechanism that allowed it to remain stowed high near the ceiling and lowered for use ... except some new crewmembers or hapless passengers were allowed to scurry up and sit atop the un-lowered bucket because no one told them any differently.

Incidentally, the "Tokyo bombsight" idea sorta lives on - current airline and AF jargon refers to "sending a message" - like excuse me I need to send a message to Management (or Al Qaeda or whomever). If you can't kid with your fellow crewmembers, who can you kid with?

[Richard W.]

Interesting topic-

The Garber Facility website has some photos that better show the location of the Enola Gay's toilet.

The caption says that the toilet doubled as a seat for the RAVEN (ECM) operator!

http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/garber/enola/int.htm

[tom d. friedman]

Interesting topic-

The Garber Facility website has some photos that better show the location of the Enola Gay's toilet.

The caption says that the toilet doubled as a seat for the RAVEN (ECM) operator!

http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/garber/enola/int.htm

talk about multi tasking!!