Parachute Exit

[Yale]

"Captains of the Clouds" was a truly bad propaganda film of World War II -- e.g., the supposed German fighter looked like a Hurricane! But one scene prompted a technical question for members of this Forum. As the aircrews boarded their Hudsons, you could see that the inside of the fuselage door was shaped like a half cylinder -- with the sign "Parachute Exit." This space did not look plausible for any kind of storage, so I'm very curious about its purpose. Folding the door forward might interrupt the slipstream, making things easier for anybody jumping out, but that's just a guess. Does anybody know the real purpose of this parachute exit?

[Uyraell]

Hello Yale.
It could be what crews called a "Flare Tray", this being part of the system by which parachute flares were released over a target to allow photographs to be taken for assessing the effectiveness of a bombing attack.

Various aircraft employed had different parachute flare dropping systems, based usually upon the aircraft classification as being a "light", medium" or "heavy" bomber.
In a medium bomber such as the Hudson, the system you have described would be the standard fitting for that aircraft, though not necessarily for the later versions that evolved from it, such as the PV2 Ventura.

Others with more knowledge may be able to provide a more informative answer.

Kind and Respectful Regards Yale, Uyraell.