parachute positionning in a He111

[KennyK404]

If there is no-one at the controls, my opinion is: it just ain't happening.

Going back to my previous comment.... do you know what kind of mission they were on? If it was a later He111, built/modified for supply drops, the bomb bay might have been more a cargo hold with a different internal arrangement.

This is more an interesting story than any kind of definite answer on crew equipment I think that the He111 was roomy enough for the crew to wear parachutes whilst in position

More pics:

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.ph...ical-position/

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6...ose-Poland.jpg

[gwdsoldat]

It was a Heinkel He111 H2. The main target was an aircraft works in Coventry, with a secondary target of Birmingham.Their bomb load included 8 chutes of 36 incendiary bombs. On the previous night they had been part of the raid on Coventry- when they carries 4*250kg bombs.

[gilles collaveri]

Hi Guys,

thanks for your interesting comments and for the pictures.

In fact, I am facing a very mysterious case (it is not A1+LN):

a He111 near Toulouse crashed after the LH engine caught fire, and
only the pilot escaped with his parachute and was harmless, while the four other crews remained in the aircraft and were killed.

How could you explain that the pilot bails out, while the balance of the crew stays on board ?

They may have been trapped:
was there a door that could have been closed ? the bomb bay was blocked closed ?
the centrifugal force kept them stuck inside the fuselage ?
Whereas the pilot, with the escape hatch above him, could bail out more easily ?

Your views are welcome. Have a nice week-end.

GC

[Snautzer]

There were places where the crew can store there parachutes (see pic). I think the crew except the pilot ( he would be sitting on his I think) would store their chute during non combat flight or when the commander felt it was safe to do so.

So perhaps in your plane, there was a major malfunction in an otherwise un-eventfull flight and the rest of the crew did not have time to put on their chutes.

According to protocol no jumping out of the bomb bay see pic 2 and 3 but designated places in the airplane.

[gilles collaveri]

thanks Snautzer, this is exactly what I suspected.

GC