Originally Posted by
oxenos
There was a similar device on the Shackleton. Since the Shack had an Elsan, it was allegedly for use if a pilot was taken short during Action Stations at low level and could not go aft.
The only time I was one used was during the Majunga detachment. It was mounted on a wooden plinth, stuffed with issue condoms and presented to the member of the Sergeant's Mess, deemed "Animal of the week". One F/E won it 6 weeks in succesion.
We took a couple of American airman on a flight in a Shackleton during a detachment to Keflavic in Iceland. Needing a pee, one of them was pointed to the Elsan down past the galley. A few minutes later we noticed that one of the passengers in the galley looked a bit sheepish while the other was convulsed in laughter: the quiet one he arrived in the crew area a little flustered:
"Gee Sir. I think I've made a mistake".
Instead of using the Elsan, he had relieved himself into the oxygen tube next to it. A quick word off intercom with the flight eng followed: he gleefully made the call on intercom:
"Don't fly above 8 thousand skipper. One of the Yanks has p*ssed into the oxygen system."
Two faces turned backwards from the pilots' seats as they tried to comprehend the situation. The flight back to Kef was made more interesting by the debate about how far back into the system the fluid could travel, and what to do if there was an emergency requiring oxygen. Back at Kef it was found that it didn't get past the elsan's economiser, so all was all right, although a strictly "not above 8" was followed on the transit back to Lossie.