To meet the development trend of light, small, and compact airborne photoelectric pods and solve the heat dissipation problem of photoelectric pods, a combination of cooling and fan circulation convection heat dissipation was used. The contact heat components with the cabin using a metal structure were employed to establish a heat conduction channel. The internal air was circulated by a fan to strengthen the internal convection and establish a low-thermal-resistance convection heat-transfer channel. Modeling simulation was performed by ICEPAK thermal simulation software, and a high-temperature working test was also conducted. The results show that the maximum temperature rise of the key processors DSP, FPGA, SoC is respectively 29.1℃, 29.2℃, 33.8℃ under static conditions and 5.2℃, 3.5℃, 4.4℃ lower than the case without fans. And the maximum temperature rise is respectively 11.9℃, 9.1℃, 15.5℃ under flight conditions. At the same time, under the action of internal air circulation by the fan, the maximum ambient temperature in the cabin was reduced by approximately 5.5℃. The maximum temperature deviation between test and simulation at the same conditions is 3.1℃. The thermal management method can effectively reduce the temperature increase in the internal environment and devices inside the cabin, satisfy the requirements of pod use with a simple structure, and occupy a small space. Thus, it is suitable for light, small, and compact airborne photo-electric pods.