Eating during the mission
Is it realistic that the captain eats soup during the flight? What if he has to go therefore to the toilet?
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But can one use such a urinal in cold heights withoug getting injured by the frost?
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MovieChat Forums > Memphis Belle (1990) Discussion > Eating during the mission
Bear in mind, these were often very long missions (many hours long). These weren't jets. It took quite a while to take off, get into formation, fly from England to deep into Germany and then go back again. Even without food, it is likely that the men were going to have to "go" from time to time no matter what.
shareThe Air Force developed and issued some 'flight rations' fior crews.
The most common ration was big enough to fi in a pocket and it was like a big matchbox - pushing one side with the mitted hand, you can open a box of candies and gums, pushing the otherside you can access to a chocolate bar/fudge.
This rations gives sugars and energy in a small space and without any 'waste', for people in cramped places, with mitted hands.
For the asme reason, most crews had a very light breakfast, expecially low in coffee and liquid and full in fibers, to avoid as much as possible the call of nature.
Thermos of hot beverages were common, too, if available.
If I'm not wrong, it was in Ambrose's 'Citizen soldiers' book, a story of a pilot who had a crewmember that had to use the toilet at every single mission: so in the middle of the trip, high on Germany skies, he had to leave his place, get in the larger place of the B-17 near the radio compartment, do a clownish streaptease of all the layers of harnesses and clothing, do it in some kind of bucket they had on board, don back clothing and parachute and get back to his gun.
When the plane was in the bomb run and opened the cargo bay, the crewmember simply dropped the bucket out the plane.
The crew called the thing something like 'the fliegier shisse' in german, the flying *beep*
Heard it said from some sources (Roger Foreman? Martin Caidin?) that some B17s were having issues with their bomb bay doors; seems crewmen would 'take a wizz' into the bomb bay & the urine would freeze the doors shut...I don't recall the solution or if there was one.
shareThank you all. I find this very interesting.
shareI wouldn't have thought it was the least bit unusual having soup or a hot drink from a thermos flask during a longish mission.
shareHonestly after a few hours a 20 thousand feet & many degrees below zero, thermos or not, your soup/coffee is gonna be frozen solid.
Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?
17 years after the war the wreck of the B-24D "Lady Be Good" was found in the Libyan Desert. The USAF team found thermos containers that still had coffee in them.
Also men of the 457th Bomb Group (8th Air Force) used the plentiful free condoms to pee into, then flung them out windows.
Powdered eggs were a staple overseas and many aircrew (including an old neighbor of mine) mixed the powdered eggs in their coffee for a quick breakfast. Powdered eggs took up less shipping space and did not require refrigeration.
British Bomber Command crews typically carried flight rations, which among other things included a Frys chocolate bar.
These flights were very long, as the aircraft only flew at about 200 mph, so eating or drinking something was common, although crews tried not to eat too much before the flight, as a long journey in an unpressurised plane could cause digestive problems.
There are implausible aspects to this film, but eating, drinking or having a thermos flask on board are not implausible.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."
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B-29s in the Pacific had longer journeys and many, perhaps all, had a toilet installed in the fuselage. Actually the B-29 even had a bunk bed with places for two crew members to rest during the journey.
The British Lancaster bomber had a chemical toilet in the fuselage, and probably other bomber types did as well.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."