Seeking ID of strange "cheese grater" device on below cockpit window of some 1940 He111s

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

While preparing artwork for color profile packages I've encountered a very strange device on the side of three different He111s that force landed in 1940 during the French Campaign and the Battle of Britain. Two of these are from aircraft of known units: 3./KG1 and Stab I./KG55. Originally, I thought that it was some kind of mission scoreboard with 24 mission symbols. But it is now obvious that it is something else. Peter Cornwell suggests a cheese grater, but this seems an inconvenient location to store something to make your sandwiches with while you are flying a combat mission. I"ve shown two different examples here. Can't get the 3rd one to load. All three show the same pattern, but different color schemes.

So what the hell is this? Does anyone know of other examples in 1940 era photos. Does anyone have a clue on the color schemes of these devices? Did they also appear on the port side of the fuselages of some aircraft?

http://www.servimg.com/image_preview...=11&u=11993385
http://www.servimg.com/image_preview...=10&u=11993385

Thanks,

[Andy Saunders]

Larry

I have a shot of the KG 55 He 111 at Wick, Sussex, on 26.8.40 which shows exactly the same thing. I had long puzzled over what it was. It almost looks like some improvised cockpit ventilator, although I like Peter's cheese grater idea better! I will dig out the photo and post it here later. I think it is on the port side.

POSTSCRIPT! Ooooops!! Just viewed your second image, Larry, and realise it is the one I mentioned aboved. Doh!
Andy

[janus4]

These are wooden push out blocks that contains the storage for signal flares

[Andy Saunders]

Originally Posted by janus4

These are wooden push out blocks that contains the storage for signal flares

Fascinating. How exactly does this work? I am aware of apertures for the firing of signal pistols from aircraft but am just puzzled, from a technical viewpoint, as to how this operates. Is it a firing mechanism for flares? Or just stowage? If the latter, I am still puzzled! Presumably the flares are loaded from outside, plugged with wooden plugs and accessed from inside the cockpit? I am just puzzled!!

[janus4]

These are just for storage. They were loaded before each flight from within. In chase of a problem with, or fire, in one of the flares, you got rid of the problem by just pushing out the whole wooden assembly.
regards janus

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Here is another example of this device on probably a force-landed He111 during the French Campaign of 1940:

http://www.servimg.com/image_preview...=12&u=11993385

I must be dense, since I'm still not clear exactly what I'm looking at here. Are the 24 dark circles or triangles holes? Is a section of the fuselage skin in the shape of this device cut out and this "flare container" somehow faired in place through the opening? Some of these look like they may have been put in place with something like duct tape, or is this just bare, unpainted sheet metal? What color would these be? If you look at all three posted here, they have the exact same configuration of six rows of four holes (?) with each row offset from the one above it. However, each one appears to be colored differently around the outer boarder, at least the outside edge of each fairing. Does this mean that there are 24 signal flares in each container? Obviously this is some kind of field modification, as the one with the 3./KG1 insignia was put in place after the insignia was applied. Would this have been used only on command a/c, like Gruppenstab a/c or Sta Kap a/c, or would it have been commonly used on other aircraft in a Staffel? Were some of these installed on the port side, or just on the starboard side as seen in these three examples? Needs a lot more explanation here. Anybody know of a schematic drawing somewhere of this thing? Was it just a temporary solution to a problem that resulted in a later design change on production a/c (such as a chute for dispensing flares through the fuselage skin from the cockpit)? I don't recall seeing these coming into common use on He111s and/or other a/c. Are there any examples of this in use prior to the 1940 Blitzkrieg? Can anyone provide further photography of this "cheese grater in use on a He111 or any other type of German aircraft?"

And finally, does anyone have any further photography of or identification on the aircraft shown in this latest posted photo?

Regards,

[Micke D]

Wouldn't flares be pointing upwards?
These don’t according to the shown photos.

[Graham Boak]

Originally Posted by Micke D

Wouldn't flares be pointing upwards?
These don’t according to the shown photos.

No reason why they should. I don't think that they do in the Very pistol aperture on RAF fighters.

[Doug Stankey]

I do not know for a fact what exactly these are but I have a theory which is rather likely. These form an acoustic aperture that allows a public address speaker inside the aircraft to transmit sound to outside the plane. One can imagine a crewman yelling "clear chocks" or "stand clear" using this feature. The skin penetrations allow passage of the sound through the weather seal which is nothing more than a layer of doped cloth. Thanks to a clear closeup, I saw at some point I could see that the cloth has some texture and "pinked" edges (ie: zi-zagged) as done with pinking shears (just like my mother used to use!). Anyway we used something like this same arrangement to protect external speakers on our Bilevel passenger rail cars made at our local factory for Toronto.

I think that this is the most likely explanation.

DGS

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

So we have a new theory here from Doug. Thanks Doug. Anybody else got any info on this?

Regards,