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Various ejection seats. In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. . In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rocket motor, carrying the pilot with
The Martin-Baker Mk.1 is a British ejection seat designed and built by Martin-Baker. Developed in the late 1940s it was the first in the line of production Martin-Baker seats for military aircraft. Ground and air testing of earlier designs resulted in the first successful test ejection of a company employee in July 1946.
The crew are seated in seats that eject themselves (ejection seats) as used in military aircraft; each crew member returns to Earth with an individual parachute. Such systems are effective only in a limited range of altitudes and speeds. These have been used on the Vostok and Gemini capsules, and Space Shuttle Columbia during its testing phase.
Martin-Baker Mk.8 is the designation given to two distinct British ejection seat types designed and built by Martin-Baker.The original use applies to a seat developed for the cancelled BAC TSR-2 strike aircraft project of the 1960s, re-use of the designation applies to a lightweight version of the Martin-Baker Mk.10 seat for the Short Tucano and other similar military training aircraft.
The Mk.9 seat is considered by the manufacturer as the culmination of their earlier designs. It features only one firing handle (the face blind handle being deleted) and a new explosive gas system to operate canopy jettison, harness retraction and main gun firing, dispensing with previous mechanical systems of rods or cables.
The Mk.5 seat was developed alongside the Mk.4 design to meet the needs of the United States Navy. Compared to the Mk.4 seat the structure and harnesses were strengthened to withstand higher crash landing loads, this resulted in a slight increase in weight. [2] Canopy breaking horns were added to allow ejection through an unjettisoned canopy. [2]
The first use of an ejection seat in a practical application by a British pilot involved the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 flying wing experimental aircraft in May 1949. Martin-Baker was a pioneer in expanding the operational envelope of the ejection seat to enable it to be used at low altitudes and airspeeds, leading eventually to development of ...
Kelly Johnson, founder of Lockheed Skunk Works, and developer of the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird family of spy planes, commented on escape crew capsules when discussing development of the YF-12A (Blackbird) ejection seat: "We set ourselves a very high goal in providing crew escape systems. We were determined to develop a system good for zero escape ...