Month in the Patent Office

A bomb bay in an aircraft has a pair of doors each of which opens solely by rotation about a fixed axis parallel with the fore and aft axis of the aircraft to a position in which it is completely inside the bomb bay. The fuselage 2 has a part circumferential closure 3 forming the top wall of the bomb bay, which is closed by doors 4, 5 each struck as a body of revolution about a common pivot 7 and mounted thereon by longitudinally spaced brackets 11. A bomb beam 24 carries pivots 22 for jacks 21 each connected to a door at a pivot 23 whereby the doors may be opened either together or separately. Rollers 17 housed within skirt panels 19 guide the doors and curved fairings (not shown) connect the closure 3 with the fuselage skin at each end of the bomb bay.