lancaster and manchester bomber archive..

good pics,crew,interior pics,in flight pics,very good info,very nice site..

Lancaster-Archive

thumbnail the elsan toilet...now you know?

 

As the Elsan was located near the rear turret and the Lancaster had only one pilot more often than not an empty coffee can was used. I recall reading of one unlucky flight engineer getting "doused" with the can's contents when their aircraft was hit by flak. No injuries to any crewman, physically. Just this man's pride

 

oh dear! no pic thankfully...

 

found this funny story "bbc peoples war",not related to elsan above,but in a way! is still funny..
I had trained with the Civil Defense Services in 1938 as an ARP Messenger until joining the RAF as an Air Crew Cadet. Thinking I could be of some help I went down the road towards the High St and heard a voice calling out quite plaintively, drawing nearer one could see against the lightening sky that the whole of one wall was missing and there sitting on the toilet was an elderly man saying over and over again,
“but I only pulled the chain!”

 

Yes, that story has done the rounds as it were. The rest of that story is rather interesting as well and can be found here:

BBC - WW2 People's War - Humour in War

 

this account taken from ww2incolor.com..

12-06-2008, 10:38 PM
Here is a first hand account of dealing with the elsan on missions.



I wonder how many people remember the Elsan? perhaps I should
say, how many people who used one can ever forget?
The Elsan was the portable metal toilet used in bomber aircraft
and it was something that was hated by air crew and ground crew
alike; the air crew because they had to use it, and the ground crew
because they had to empty it. It was a horror.

The name Elsan is something of a mystery but I've heard it said,
and this seems to make sense, that the "El" and the "san" in military
parlance stood for "lavatory-sanitary." However, it was anything
but sanitary, believe me, a veteran user of the Elsan.
While we were flying in rough air, this devil's convenience often
shared its contents with the floor of the aircraft, the walls, the ceiling
and, sometimes, a bit remained in the container itself.
It doesn't take much imagination to picture what it was like,
trying to combat fear and airsickness, struggling to remove enough
flying clothing in cramped quarters, and at the same time trying to
use the cursed Elsan. If it wasn't an invention of the devil, it certainly
must have been one foisted on us by the enemy.
When seated in frigid cold amid the cacophony of roaring engines
and whistling air, away from the war for what should have
been one of life's peaceful moments, the occupant had a chance to
fully ponder the miserable condition of his life.
This loathsome creation invariably overflowed on long trips and
in turbulence was always prone to bathe the nether regions of the
user.
There are those today who may decry the inconvenience of the
long-gone outdoor "biffy" but in comparison to the Elsan, the
outhouse is heaven on earth.
I have yet to come across one of these torture chambers in a
museum, and I think it is a mistake that at least one is not included. It
is one of the true reminders to me that war is hell.

 

The ground crew emptied it? I read somewhere that the first one on the plane to use it also had to empty it??

 

not nice! pooooooo!!