Ejector seat invented by Irish engineer 1945 saves 7664 lives | Season 1 – Episode 94
Wings Jan 21, 2022
The ejector seat was accomplished by James Martin (September 11, 1893 – January 5, 1981) who was born at Killinchy Woods, Crossgar, Co Down. He followed motor-racing and in 1925 began building cars, which may have inspired his decision to form the Martin Aircraft Co. (1929) at Denham, Buckinghamshire, UK. By 1934, Captain (later Sir) James Martin had joined up with pilot Captain Valentine Baker to pursue military contracts and together they founded the Martin Baker Aircraft Company, in Buckinghamshire, UK.
EARLY AIRCRAFT DESIGNS AND WARTIME PRODUCTION
From 1937 the Martin Baker Aircraft Company produced an autogyro and several prototype aircraft and during World War 2, using the design patents for aircraft structures held by Martin and began with the MB 1. This was an unconventional, two-seat, low-wing monoplane design with its Cirrus Hermes engine behind the cockpit. The legendary Amy Johnson, whom Martin knew as a friend, had intended to test-fly it but withdrew in 1930 to prepare for her solo flight to Australia. None of these prototypes ever entered service with the Allied forces. During World War 2 to offset the commercial failures of their fighter prototypes the company turned to the production of aircraft components and made retrofit improvements to the ammunition belt feeds and armoured seats for the Supermarine Spitfire and numerous components for the de Havilland Mosquito.
THE TRAGEDY THAT INSPIRED THE EJECTOR SEAT
Like many great inventions that save lives, the idea for the ejector seat began with a tragedy. Martin & Baker had divided their roles in the Martin Baker company, James Martin took on the engineering and as Valentine Baker was a flying instructor he took the role of company test pilot. On September 12, 1942 while testing their third design of aeroplane, the Martin-Baker M.B.3, a 6-cannon armed fighter design when the Napier Sabre engine seized and Captain Baker was forced to make an emergency landing, the plane cartwheeled after a wing-tip struck a tree stump and he was killed in the crash.
SHIFT TO PILOT SAFETY
Following Valentine Baker’s death in 1942, James Martin was so affected by the tragedy of his friend’s death that he concentrated all of his engineering abilities on pilot-safety and this became his primary focus. An early invention of Martin’s aimed at improving pilot safety was explosive bolt cutters fitted to bomber wings to cut barrage balloon cables. Later the Martin-Baker company reorganised to focus primarily on ejection seats.
MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION APPROACH
In 1944 the British Ministry of Aircraft Production approached the company and tasked them with investigating how the pilot of a high-speed aircraft could be assisted in bailing out of their aircraft in the event of an emergency?
DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXPLOSIVE EJECTOR SEAT
As the Martin-Baker company had been investigating ejector seats since 1934, ahead of other aviation manufacturers in Germany tested in the experimental Heinkel He 280 and the operational He 219, (1938) and Sweden they were well placed to advise the Ministry. Their studies had found that an explosive-powered ejector seat, with the polit sitting in it was the best solution to allow a pilot to egress a stricken aircraft in relative safety. After the explosive aided ejection, the pilot could then separate from their seat and open a parachute by pulling a ripcord in the usual way.
LIMITATIONS OF EARLY G-FORCE KNOWLEDGE
In the 1940s there was little scientific information available on how much upward thrust the human body could withstand. Data relating to “g” forces in catapult launching of aircraft involved horizontal thrust and was therefore inapplicable to the new problem posed by ejector seats.
STATIC TEST RIG EXPERIMENTS
Tests were conducted to find out how much upward “g” force the. Human body could tolerate. A 5-metre (16 foot) test rig was built in the form of a tripod, one of the legs being in the form of guide rails and a weight-loaded seat (represent the weight of the occupant) was propelled up a near-vertical path and the accelerations involved were measured.
BERNARD LYNCH AND THE FIRST LIVE EJECTIONS
The first dummy shot with the seat loaded to 90.7 kg (200lb) was made on 20 January 1945, and four days later an intrepid employee, Bernard Lynch (fitter), attempted the first ‘live’ static ejection on 24th January 1945 up to a height of 142.2 cm (4 feet 8 inches). In three subsequent tests, the power of the explosive cartridge was progressively increased until a height of 10 feet (3 m) was reached, at which stage Lynch reported the onset of considerable physical discomfort.
FIRST MID-FLIGHT EJECTION
Bernard (Bert) Lynch conducted his first mid-flight test ejection over Chalgrove Airfied in Oxfordshire on 24th July 1946. While flying in a specially modified Gloster Meteor 3 jet he ejected himself from the rear cockpit at a speed of 514.9 km/h (320 mph), 2,438 m (8,000 ft) in the air. Bernard Lynch made a perfect parachute landing and went on to complete a further 16 successful test ejections. ‘Punching out’ is the slang name for baling out of an aeroplane using an ejector seat.
THE EJECTION SEQUENCE
From the time the ejection handle is pulled, triggering the explosive charges, to the canopy disintegrating, to the pilot and their seat exiting the aircraft cockpit takes no longer than 4 seconds. Pilot spinal injuries are common as an ejection procedure exposes the body to accelerations to the point of human tolerance. Once the pilot and their ejector seat have exited the aircraft, a small drogue parachute deploys to stabilise the horizontal velocity descent on free-fall and prevents the seat from tumbling, until reaching an altitude of 4572 m (15,000 ft) when the occupant is separated from the seat, even if they are unconscious and the main parachute then deploys.
FIRST OPERATIONAL USE
The first production Martin-Baker ejection seat, a ‘Pre-Mk 1’ was fitted to the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 prototype. The first real, non-test ejection took place on 30th May 1949 when Jo Lancaster flying an Armstrong Whitworth AW52 flying wing experimental aircraft, was forced to eject using a pre-Mk1 ejection seat over Southam, Warwickshire.
ZERO-ZERO CAPABILITY
The next leap forward by the company came in 1961 when they achieved a zero-zero capability for their ejector seats, whereby a pilot can safely eject upwards from the aircraft cockpit at zero altitude and zero airspeed.
JAMES MARTIN’S LIFETIME LEGACY
James Martin’s ejector seat saved almost 5,000 aircrew in his lifetime and as of the time of writing (January 20 2022) 7,664 pilots owe their lives the Martin Baker ejector seat. He received many industry awards and medal and his accolades included an OBE (1950), he was created CBE (1957), and was knighted (1965) and was featured on Northern Ireland £100 sterling banknotes.
PERSONAL LIFE
Sir James Martin was a successful businessman who inspired loyalty in his staff. He was rarely absent from the Denham works and he lived nearby where he died 5 January 1981.
MARTIN-BAKER TODAY
Martin-Baker company remains at the forefront of ejector seat design and research to this day and retains two Gloster Meteor T.7 aircraft, WL419 and WA638, based at Chalgrove Airfield in Oxfordshire as flying testbeds.
LATEST MARTIN-BAKER EJECTION
The latest ejection using a Martin Baker seat was on 4th October 2021 when a US Navy FA/18F on a mission from Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, when it crashed in Death Valley National Park in California. The solo pilot ejected successfully and was picked up by search and rescue teams.The
THE EJECTION TIE CLUB
If you are ‘lucky’ enough to have ejected from the cockpit of an aircraft or helicopter using a Martin-Baker ejection seat, you are then invited to join an exclusive Ejectee club; the ‘Ejection Tie Club’ where the members are all unified by having their lives saved by a Martin-Baker ejector seats. The first pilot to be accepted into the Club was an RAF serviceman who ejected over what was then Rhodesia in January 1957. Since the foundation of the ‘Ejection Tie Club’ in 1957 there are now over 6,000 registered members. Club members receive a tie, patch, certificate, tie pin or a brooch for the women and membership card. All Ejection Tie Club memorabilia depicts a red triangle warning sign, the recognised international danger symbol for an ejection seat.
GLOBAL USE AND LIVES SAVED
From 30th May 1949 to date the ejector seats of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company are being used in 200 fixed-wing and rotary types aircraft by 93 air forces worldwide and have saved the lives of 7,664 aircrew members and counting….
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Information sources:
martin-baker.com
Friends of Stokes Bay
Meteor Eject: A Cold War Jet Pilot’s by Nick Carter
Voriticitysystems.com
www.rafmuseum.org.uk
Aiirsource
Wings: the encyclopaedia of aviation no. 79 (1978)
Prof. Sir Bernard Crossland and John S. Moore – The lives of great engineers of Ulster (2003)
Dictionary of Irish Biography
www.dib.ie
