Urinating in a fighter
 

A serious question: on a 6 hour flight to Berlin and back sitting in a cramped cockpit, how did a US fighter pilot relieve himself? Did they wear an absorptive nappy or towel?

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Probably just let it go, as Formula 1 racing drivers still do to this day.


Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Hi

The Bell P39 Airacobra recovered last year had a funnel and pipe which lead out of the aircraft.

regards

MS

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

I believe the correct name is "relief tube" and the function is quite logical :)

Just try a Google search.

Looks like most US fighters were fitted with such a system, probably a case of aircraft endurance outlasting human endurance!

Quick glance through my Bf 109 and Fw 190 manuals does not show any such system, but I could easily have missed it (although I do not remember ever reading about such either).

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Yes the relief tube....what a joy. I read a book a while back when a P-51 pilot was taking a leak and didn't see the Me109 creeping up on his 6. Problem was the German pilot was a novice and in his eagerness, got to close and rammed the Mustang with the result of the Mustang loosing the tail. The pilot said he, "dropped everthing, and in the initial shock got his you know what stuck to the aluminum funnel". Now he had two options, either rip some skin and bail, or if he crashes, have his corpse found with to much showing. What an option!! Still have the book if anyone wants to know the titel. Danny

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

I have a good friend who flew P-51,s in the CBI. Yes they had a relief tube, but the problem many of them had it could not be used for. Bob

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Just read Bob Goebel's Mustang Ace and you will find the answer.

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Hi guys,

May I quote (via Plt Off Jim Cranstone RNZAF) from my 'Buffaloes over Singapore':

"Mowbray Garden (flight commander of 243 Squadron on Buffaloes) just couldn't keep still. I remember he wanted to urinate fairly often when he was flying. They had relief tubes in the Buffaloes and the groundcrew got a little browned off with having to flush his relief tube out, so they turned the venturi round (a venturi, in short, accentuates or concentrates a volume of air through vacuum) so anything that was introduced near its point of entry was sucked in with violence. I think Mowbray was hospitalised for a day or two."

I have an account of how a Blenheim air gunner managed to do a 'number two' in his aircraft - but that's another story!

Cheers
Brian

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

A little off topic, but I was talking to a ball turret gunner on 17's who told me his navagator used to use the relief tube on every mission. When he did so it would hit his turret, if he was pointed forward the pee would hit his viewing window and freez. He would not be able to see for the rest rest of the mission. So before one mission he turned the outside end of the tube forward. The tube had a U shapped bend on the bottom so a small amount of pee would sit in the tube. When the navagator opened the top of the relief tube he got sprayed with his own stale pee. The navagator was so mad it took 50 years for the gunner to admit it was him who did it. Bob

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

In AAF Manual 51-127-5 Pilot Training Manual for the P-51 Mustang (Aug 15 1945) Pg. 48 MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT

PILOT'S RELIEF TUBE
The relief tube is stowed on a bracket on the floor of the cockpit at the left of your seat.

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Occasionally you can see the stains around the exit hole for the relief tube on side elevation shots just under cockpit (about 12") and approximately centered just under a pilot's elbow (lh side) if he was posing for a shot with an open canopy in a Mustang.

Needed it a lot more for 51's and 38's and F6F's ..

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Are you sure about that? I thought it was the flare port.........

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Not just fighters. I've seen it said that if a ground crew didn't like the pilot of their Hampden, they would knot the tubing.

Presumably the same applies to Bostons, Marylands, Baltimores, etc.

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

http://www.banaire.com/Images/RELIEF...STEM%20KIT.jpg
and its still available on the net, look here:
www.banaire.com/relieftube.html

listed at 98,50$
RGDS
YASIG

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Hopefully, the horns come in different sizes! ;)


(sorry, I could not resist!)

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

John - the 'exit' port is absolutely the flare port, but I vaguely recall that the port was used as the exit point for the relief tube also.

My father's post war toy, a 51D-30, was one I got 56 hours in - and it didn't even have the kit - nor did I ever use it. I do not recall seeing any location in floorboard or aft of Trim console other than the flare port and it was an ideal location for exhaust..

I'm checking now with his old crew chief to see exactly where the exit point is.

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Well, I just received a photo of a D from a guy who restores them. He has marked the relief tube exit point as a small bulge at the bottom of the tail, behind the tail wheel. I would post it but it is larger than the size allowed by the board and I do not know how to make such sizes smaller.

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

well - mystery solved at last John. Thanks.

I know that the one we had didn't have either a tube in that area or a noticeable exit point, as I did a fair amount of work under/back there looking at tail wheel links and rudder/elevator controls... suppose it was taken out before he bought it - because the kit wasn't there either.

Re: Urinating in a fighter
 

Bill,

I spoke to some of the guys about this when I attended the 355th reunion in Dallas/Fort Worth, in particular Bob Garlich as he was always saying that the first thing(s) he did when leaving enemy air space was to have a "smoke and a pee" although not clear in which order. I wanted to know how the liquid got to the outside air without a severe vacuum doing unpleasant things to the "human" fixtures and fittings. None of the crew could remember but I believe that it might have been Julius that eventually came up with the answer about the vent by the tail wheel. They also gave the information that a dedicated crew would apply vaseline to the outlet to save it icing up at high altitude with the resultant "mess" in the cockpit.

Peter