Aircraft Lavatory - Historical Aircraft Toilets

Historical Aircraft Toilets

During World War 2, large bomber aircraft, such as the American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the British Avro Lancaster, carried chemical toilets; in British use, they were called Elsans after the company that manufactured them. These often overflowed and were difficult to use. The intense cold of high altitude required crews to wear many layers of heavy clothing, and the pilot might have had had to take violent evasive action with little warning. They were unpopular with bomber crews, who would avoid using them if at all possible. Bomber crew members sometimes preferred to urinate into bottles or defecate into cardboard boxes, which were then thrown from the aircraft.

The British Supermarine Stranraer flying boat was fitted with a toilet that was open to the air. When the lid was lifted in flight, airflow produced a whistling noise that led to the aircraft being nickamed the Whistling Shithouse. The Short Sunderland flying boat was comparatively well equipped, carrying a porcelain flush-toilet.

Smaller aircraft such as fighters were fitted with devices known as relief tubes. These consisted of a funnel attached to a hose that led to the outside and which could be used for urination. These devices were awkward to use and could become frozen and blocked in the intense cold of high altitude.

Such devices are still sometimes fitted to modern military aircraft and small, private aircraft although they are difficult for women to use. Male glider pilots undertaking extended soaring flights may wear an external catheter that either drains into a collection bag or is connected to tubing that dumps the urine to the outside. If the latter approach is used, care must be taken when designing the system so that the stream of urine does not make contact with other parts of the aircraft, where it may eventually cause corrosion.