Oxygen bottles and armor placement.

[Melvin]

Last week some friends of mine shot a medical grade oxygen bottle with a .223. They said the explosion was horrendous.

This got me to thinking about bottle placement in WWII aircraft. It is my understanding that they were placed very near the aircrew. Could some of you point me in the right direction as to where I might find the schematics for bottle placement, as well as the thickness of armor that might have shielded the pilot from any type of explosion?

I'd also like to know what P.S.I. the bottles were charged to, as well as wall thickness. With any luck we'll be doing this thing again, only this time I talked them into lining up some plate steel and aluminum to recreate a catastrophic hit.

 

[Raptor05121]

SCBA, SCUBA, as well as aviation bottles are usually around 2-3K PSI, some up to 4

[Melvin]

And what kind of wall thickness do they have?


It seems to me that the bottle shot was around 2400 psi and they said it had about 3/8 inch thick side walls. I thought that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I really don't know.

Judging from how they described the explosion I'm thinking it would have ripped the rear section off a FW-190 (I seem to recall somewhere that FW's had bottles mounted behind the Pilot's seat).

I could be totally wrong though, hence my reason for coming here and asking.

 

[Strollin]

If it was a SCOTT then it would have been around 4k

[Ack-Ack]

In the Zero the O2 bottle was mounted on the back of the rear cockpit bulkhead behind the pilot.  The only protection the pilot had was the rear cockpit bulkhead that seperated the pilot from the oxygen bottles.  McGuire would encourage his pilots to try and hit Japanese naval fighters in this location as the resulting explosion and/or fire was enough to, in most cases, kill the pilot or at the least seriously wound him.  IJAF fighters usually used oxygen generators which made explosions or fire less likely (if at all) to happen.

ack-ack

[Melvin]

I was hoping you would reply Ack Ack.


How were the bottles mounted in USAAF, and LW birds? Is there a website I can go to to see a good cutaway drawing of the fighters in question?

[Butcher]

In the Zero the O2 bottle was mounted on the back of the rear cockpit bulkhead behind the pilot.  The only protection the pilot had was the rear cockpit bulkhead that seperated the pilot from the oxygen bottles.  McGuire would encourage his pilots to try and hit Japanese naval fighters in this location as the resulting explosion and/or fire was enough to, in most cases, kill the pilot or at the least seriously wound him.  IJAF fighters usually used oxygen generators which made explosions or fire less likely (if at all) to happen.

ack-ack

I did not know that! Great information to know, thank you Ack-Ack.

[colmbo]

Bob Hoovers Mustang was badly damaged when the O2 bottle was over-filled and blew -- pretty much taking the tail off the airplane.  The O2 bottles in the Mustang are in the aft fuselage.

You know how O2 and oil should never be mixed?  In the B-17 the hydraulic pump reservoir is located at the rear bulkhead of the pilots compartment on the right side.  Above it were several O2 tanks -- no armor protecting any of it.  I always wondered why I read of so many cockpit fires in B-17s.