Ian Powell photos
If you can read French, former Armée de l'Air aviator Jean Houben has put together a site full of first person accounts from French airmen. The Mirage IV was an aircraft capable of staying in the air for up to 15 hours at a time but which had a number of shortcomings. In "pipi room du Mirage IV" a former Mirage IV pilot describes the battle its pilots had with Dassault engineers to get some form of (necessarily) heated relief tube installed into the aircraft - pee freezes at -56° at subsonic speeds. Dassault said the equipment for this one function was far too costly and given the proximity of the radar and the radio altimeter to the 'outlet' were reluctant to incorporate one in the aircraft. Although a solution was eventually found there was no provision for the Mirage IV to be piloted by a lady pilot.
http://aviateurs.e-monsite.com/pages/1946-et-annees-suivantes/pipi-room.html
