Douglas EKA-3B Skywarrior bomb-bay access door : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Douglas EKA-3B Skywarrior bomb-bay access door / wbaiv
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-継承 2.1 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | This was one of the key features in the original A3D-1 design - standard procedure in the early days of US 'special weapons' aka atomic bombs, was that a human had to manually enable the hellish device before it could explode, and that enabling only took place after the plane was aloft. Both bombs dropped on Japan required someone to climb into the unpressurized bomb bay and do something with the bomb, as they flew 5 miles or more above the ocean. Very classified at the time, I'm sure you can find a Wikipedia article now. The A3 was one of the last airplanes the Navy bought without ejection seats, the three crew climbed up an inclined ramp with a few footholds let into its surface to get from the hatch ahead of the bomb bay doors, to the cockpit. In an emergency, the theory was for the hatch at the bottom to be opened, forming a wind block and escape chute, and the two crew would slide down the chute (one at a time) and fall free of the airplane. When the rest of the crew were safe, the pilot would set the autopilot (or pray) and dive for the chute themselves. Why the crew would need to abandon an airplane flying so sedately and compliantly wasn't made clear. Halfway down the chute was this hatch, where a skilled crewman (all men in those days, probably an officer too) would make their way, inflight, and taking care not to drop out the hatch at the bottom, they'd open this door and climb into the bomb bay. Once there, make your way to the bomb, without falling out the bomb bay doors (they're closed, but how much weight could they hold? Was there a cat walk? Zip line? A piece of 2 X 12" lumber? An aluminum plank? Then do what you need to do to arm the bomb, make your way back through the hatch, up the ramp and back into the cockpit. Job well done. If your crew manage to survive to get to the target, you can drop your atomic bomb and it will kill hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of people.The same setup was in the Navy's North American Savage, Air Force B-45, Convair B-36, Boeing B-47 and 52. Later, remotely activated were invented, so takeoff was still 'safe' and only in the event of a war mission would detonation be enabled. Then the bomb could be strapped to the outside of a single-seat airplane, and the one pilot, by themself, would fly the mission, arm the weapon, attack the target and try to get home after. All in all, we're so much better off that we never had WW III. But we should never forget how we got there, under threat, in fear, doubt and uncertainty, short of any recourse but to meet threats with threats, nightmares with nightmares. All those young men willing to go do the unthinkable. We should never take lightly the devotion of our young persons in the service.P5120810Oakland Aviation Museum www.oaklandaviationmuseum.org/hours-and-location |
| 撮影日 | 2013-05-12 15:19:23 |
| 撮影者 | wbaiv |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | Alameda, California, United States 地図 |
| カメラ | E-P2 , OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. |
| 露出 | 0.05 sec (1/20) |
| 開放F値 | f/0 |
| 焦点距離 | 0 mm |