Well it's definitely not the best bathroom in the world, but at least you can still use it like a regular bathroom. But I was wondering, what does a bathroom look like in a WWII aircraft? Or what if you're flying a single-seat fighter?
Now try picturing yourself as a WWII air crew. What if you suddenly need to go in the middle of a massive bombing run at 10000 feet? If you can't, why don't we read the stories from the veterans themselves? Just read it patiently and try not to laugh.
One crew said :
"In the radar compartment aft, there was a chemical toilet which we were reluctant to use because the poor radar operator would almost die from the odours."
@SalmonSmeller lol
@SalmonSmeller The sinks in the bathrooms are so small that my hand doesn't even fit on it. I've never vomited on an airplane, fortunately.
@Mox lol
@ChiChiWerx According to one of the pilots in the story, they simply hold it. But this sometimes results in inflammations.
Since when do cessnas have toilets? Lol.
@JovianPat yep.... The guy sitting next to me really liked me after that XD
@JovianPat they stink, plus there's just an unwritten rule about no pilot ever wanting to go #2 in their plane if they can avoid it.
@Mox Oh great.
@ChiChiWerx I'm not even sure if I can stay alive without a pressurized cabin above 20000 ft. I might die of hypoxia lol. Btw the pilots said that the chemical toilets are horrible and they almost never use it. What made them so bad?
In Unbroken, there was something at their seat called a "piss pipe "
Yes. Then we hit turbulence.
I did once, "woosh"
No, they (B-52, B-1, B-2) do not. They all are pressurized (otherwise the crew would pass out at altitude or suffer decompression sickness over the hours long missions), but they have a couple of canisters for liquids and a chem toilet for solids. I think the B-2 might be a little more advanced, but not by much.
@ChiChiWerx Yea...modern day bombers usually have pressurized cabin and modern toilets.
That was WWII, I refer strictly to modern-day aircraft. I think the WWII funnels required some aim...
@ChiChiWerx Actually I went to a plane museum a while ago, and saw some WWII fighters with their cockpits still intact. I remember some of them had a small compartment under the seat, I wonder what it's for...but we weren't allowed to touch anything.
Hold it. But, seriously, when using a "piddle pack", yes, it's complicated and, well, you need to hold it if you're in combat. Any use will be when ingressing prior to the actual combat part or after you've egressed to safety. As for the U-2, you wear the thing the entire time and only have to open the suit valve (push in and turn), then go. The hardest part is learning how to go while seated, as you have that advantage over the piddle pack. But, even then a U-2 pilot wouldn't go if some MiG or SAM was engaging them at the time, they'd just hold it.
@ChiChiWerx That sounds...complicated. What if you're using it and suddenly...
"enemy fighter at 7 o'clock!"
No funnel, a piddle pack, such as used in most fighters, is a thick plastic bag with a wide opening superabsorbent sponge in it. U-2 pilots have a "Texas catheter"...it's an external catheter, works the same way, but without the...umm...pain from an actual catheter. That thing is put on when dressing up in the space suit, it stays on the entire time, the plastic tube runs down the leg, out a valve on the suit and into the aircraft's "reservoir", which resides under the floor boards.
@KingDeadshot You're welcome!
@ChiChiWerx Well you can barely do anything in such a cramped cockpit with almost no legroom. So the pilots simply use some kind of a funnel under their seats?
I just read the link and I nearly doubled over with laughter...ok, it's gallows humor, but some things don't change! Still the same problems today, even though we're slightly better at it now through years of experience!
From personal experience, single seat aircraft use "piddle packs", which requires unstrapping from the seat and parachute and carefully using using the pack to catch the liquid. Still others use a UCD, a "collection device", with a tube to a "honey bucket", usually in the floor of the jet. #2 is a no-go, but one's body, unless they eat something that disagrees with them, is usually very smart in making sure you don't need to use the bathroom. In WWII, they had "relief tubes" which they used like any other urinal, stand and go. There's no going doing the bomb run. If the urge hits you in combat, you hold it. As for the chem toilets, you NEVER, EVER, NEVER use them in your airplane!
@MechWARRIOR57 Yep. In a hot day, in India. They said that the odour was forever.
@DisferGoatzFAILURE Yea...fortunately in this modern age, bathrooms are available in almost every airliner and they are functional, compared to the Elsan toilets in WWII bombers....