High flying propeller airplanes?

Question

When propeller airplanes ( not turbo jets) for example old DC 4's and DC 6's fly above 10,000 ft where does the oxygen come from for the crew and passangers. Or perhaps they did not fly that high. In that case did WW2 bombers carry compressed O2 for the crews.

Answer 1

I've had an unpressurized Cessna 172 up to 13,000 feet without oxygen.

The DC-4 did not have pressurization but it had bottled oxygen for some of the passengers (like children and the elderly) for flight above 10,000 feet.

The DC-6 had dedicated cabin superchargers on the engines to pressurize the cabin. (Engine superchargers and compressors weren't used for fear of fire and smoke contamination until the 727 was made) but oxygen was available to a small percentage of the passengers.

WWII bombers flew at 20,000 to 25,000 feet and required crew to be on oxygen at those altitudes. The B-29 had cabin pressuriztion.

The oxygen comes from personal bottles on the bombers and a large bottle in the belly or rear of the plane through integrated piping for airliners.

Answer 2

There is something called a supercharger which is like a compresor which feeds more air to the engine. The p-38 has dual superchargwers, so it flew higher than the BF-109 and FW-190. On WW2 bombers, oxygen was supplied by tanks. Pressurized cabins create a air bubble where it is compressed, so the air is the same as sea level

Answer 3

For aircraft with pressurized cabins, the air (not pure oxygen)comes from a compressor that pressurizes the cabin to an atmospheric pressure that is equal to an altitude of about 8,000 ft above sea level.
Depending on the make & model of the aircraft the compressor may be attached to one or more of the engines, or driven by an auxilliary pump that is either gas or electric powered.

Answer 4

Well, man can still get enough oxygen beyond 10,000 feet. I have been that high more than once. However, pretty soon over that, you must get pressurized cabins. I think one or more of the last airplanes flown in WW2 had pressurized cabins which allowed them to fly higher than the enemies fighters could fly.

Answer 5

The crews used Oxygen. That's why once pressurized A/C came into being they were able to fly above the weather

Answer 6

They are jets that can be either military or civilian. The "white tails" are condensation trails created by hot exhaust gasses contacting cold ambient air, commonly referred to as contrails.