What do you think this is ?

[Womenfly2]

 

.... any guess?

Cheers,

WF2

[Rickitycrate]

My guess would be bomb release.

[zoomzoom]

One step ahead of ya,

 

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft...ontraption.html

 

annnd again http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=41475

 

 

ZZ.

 

Leaning towards bomb release though...if you look just over the pilots shoulder you will see the handle of another one on the other side, so I'm assuming this is for balance reasons, and therefore are likely for bombs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way we have Olham to thank for this photo site reference.

Edited May 20, 2009 by zoomzoom

[Rooster89]

Theyre beer taps.

 

Im going to go with the majority and say dart/bomb release.

 

-Rooster

[Snoopy syndrome]

Beer bottles support home made prototype?

I'm already out and far, far away... :whistling:

(sorry, Rooster already made the joke!)

Edited May 20, 2009 by Snoopy syndrome

[OvS]

Theyre beer taps.

 

Im going to go with the majority and say dart/bomb release.

 

-Rooster

 

Me to, going with the majority and saying beer taps as well.

 

But I think they are bomb releases. Judging by the look of the plane, it's an early war type, and most likely an Alb or Aviatik. Early war planes were strictly observation/photography and did not carry any ordinance. This looks like a field mod, more like a 'hey, let's give this a try!', type things

 

OvS

[zoomzoom]

Me to, going with the majority and saying beer taps as well.

 

Well, Im leaning in a different direction for this one now as well. I think it was officially known as "Der Kat-a-Rackt", and how it was utilized was they'd attach a cat in each of those little clamps by inserting their tails, securing them by pulling down on the little handle, capacity of three cats per side. They would then fly over the hated enemy, pull the handles one by one and release a swarm of very pissed off Kitties, head first into the midst of their foes. The psychological effect alone would be devastating.

 

ZZ.

 

PS.In fact I'm going to lobby the Dev-Team to include this in the next upgrade pack. Capital idea!

[Typhoon]

Bomb release, Beer taps. I don't think so. These handles release 3 types of hair styling products. Brylcream, Briliantine, & Grecian Formula. I mean look at that guys hair.

 

Tony

[+RAF_Louvert]

Nah, you're all wrong. Those are for playing "Luftring Werfen", (a Hun form of aerial ring toss), for when the pilots got really bored on the long recons.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[+Olham]

Really creative, Typhoon and Lou!

[rabu]

 

.... any guess?

Cheers,

WF2

 

Mail delivery.. The sacks were hung from the hooks. I have a feeling that the ball handles were also used as visual instructions for the other flight members in the group on each side. Notice there are handles on each side (you can just see the top of one behind the pilots back on the right. With balls of the handles brightly colored in red or orange so that the other flight members could see their position easily and be signaled when to drop their other supplies as well.

[+Hasse Wind]

I vote for the beer taps. Three different beers so the pilot can choose the right one for the occasion. (If you turn your head and look behind in the cockpit of the Eindecker in OFF you can see a tank there. Maybe its also full of beer.)

 

It's interesting how difficult it can be today to try to guess what those things were for, when it must have been blatantly obvious to the pilots of the era. But you just don't see such apparatus in modern planes anymore, everything has changed so much since WW1.