Bernard Lynch was a fitter who was employed by the Irish Air Corps. In 1936 he joined the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company as a fitter in the experimental department.
This company was founded on 17 August 1934. From October 1944 the company focused their attention to a means of assisted escape from an aircraft. For the test purposes a 16-foot tower rig was constructed with an inclined track on rails which a seat could be fired up using a cartridge. To determine the effect of such a propulsion on the human body and in particular the spine it was necessary to using a human for the test.
Bernard Ignatius Lynch was born on 18 February 1918 in Killeen near Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. In 1947 he married Olive Kirwan. Lynch was a big, burly man who volunteered and he was the first test ejectee on 24 January 1945. When the seat was shot up to almost ten feet Lynch suffered a considerable degree of pain. James Martin made alterations to overcome the problems experienced by Lynch.
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Lynch was sent on a training course to become a parachutist. It was now time to test the ejection seat from an aircraft in flight. On 24 July 1946 Bernard Lynch became the first person in Great Britain to use an ejection seat in the air when he fired himself out of the rear seat of a Royal Air Force Gloster Meteor Mark 3 at 8,000 feet travelling at 320 miles per hour.
He pulled down the face blind to initiate the ejection and the twin cartridge ejection gun fired. He pulled the rip cord on his own parachute to descend safely to the ground. Lynch landed within walking distance of a pub where he enjoyed a welcome pint.
James Martin redesigned the seat and a second live ejection took place when Lynch again ejected on 11 August 1947 from an RAF Meteor this time at 6,000 feet and travelling at 200 miles per hour. He disengaged from the seat and was on a fully developed parachute eight seconds after the ejection.
Lynch’s next ejection was on 29 August 1947 at 420 miles per hour from 12,000 feet to complete a successful landing. On 2 January 1948 the Martin-Baker ejection seat was approved for installation in RAF Meteor 4 aircraft.
Bernard Lynch’s 17th live airborne test was on Saint Patrick’s Day, the 17 March 1954. He ejected from 30,000 feet but a problem arose with the mechanism to separate the seat and he had to use his emergency parachute. He landed badly and fractured his angle that did not mend well. This marked the end of his career as a test ejectee. According to this author’s conversation with Bernard’s son, aside from the fractured ankle, he didn’t appear to suffer any long term medical effects as a result of his thirty or so ejection tests.
Lynch was succeeded by Doddy Hay. On 1 April 1961 Hay successfully completed the first Zero-Zero ejection. Meaning he ejected from zero altitude at zero airspeed from a ground seat.
Only one man has ejected from an Irish Air Corps aircraft. That was twenty-year-old cadet Leitrim man Ronald McPartland who successfully ejected from a Vampire over County Meath on 5 May 1961. At the time of writing Martin-Baker ejection seats have saved the lives of 7,720 pilots.
Bernard Lynch was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 1948 New Year Honours. Bernard Ignatius Lynch was diagnosed with cancer and died in Wycombe General Hospital in 1986 aged 68 years.
Story: Michael Traynor
Michael Traynor hails from Kinlough, County Leitrim. He is a Private Pilot for 45 years. He has published books about the history of aviation in Limerick; Iona: Ireland’s first commercial airline and his latest Petticoat Pilots about early Irish female aviators.
Sources of information:
Aero Society
Anglo Irish Celt
Fear of Landing website – Jim Meads
MartinBaker.com
Old Machine Press
Pathé
Sir James Martin – authorised biography of the Martin-Baker ejection seat pioneer – Sarah Sharman (1996)
Smithsonian Institute
The Man in the Hot Seat by Doddy Hay (1969)
Part 2 on Ronald McPartland the only Irishman to eject from a plane – COMING SOON
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