History of Ejection

In the early days of military flying, a pilot could simply bail out. This meant jumping out of the plane using a para­chute. Fighter pilots and bomber crews during World War II were sometimes able to escape from crashing aircraft, but only after opening cockpit canopies and exit hatches. As aircraft flew faster and higher, engineers came up with the idea of a “flying seat” to automatically separate pilot from aircraft.

On July 24, 1946, British pilot Bernard Lynch successfully ejected from a Meteor jet flying at 320 miles per hour (515 kilometers per hour) at the height of about 8,000 feet (about 2,440 meters), and later from as high as 30,000 feet (9,145 meters). The first American test of an ejection seat was on August 17, 1946, from a P-61 airplane.

The first American pilot to make an emergency ejection from a jet plane was Lieutenant J. L. Fruin of the U. S. Navy. On August 9, 1949, he ejected from his F2H-1 Banshee fighter, at around 575 miles per hour (925 kilometers per hour). The effectiveness of an ejection seat at zero level was shown during tests car­ried out by the Martin-Baker Company in 1955. A squadron leader in the British air force was shot out of a Meteor jet speeding along a runway at 120 miles an hour (193 kilometers per hour). The

A LONG LANDING

The longest-ever parachute descent after ejecting was that of Lieutenant Colonel William H. Rankin of the U. S. Marine Corps in 1959. After ejecting from his F8U Crusader jet at

47,0 feet (14,325 meters), he fell through a violent thunderstorm. Instead of taking just a few minutes to reach the ground, he was in the air for an amazing 40 minutes. The strong currents of air generated by the storm kept whisking him upward.

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seat rose 70 feet (21.3 meters) into the air before the parachute opened. In 1955 American test pilot George F. Smith ejected from an F-100 Super Sabre while diving at more than 700 miles per hour (1,126 kilometers per hour)—the first supersonic ejection escape.

The modern combat pilot still has cause to be grateful for ejection seats. In June 1995, U. S. Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady ejected over Bosnia in Europe after his F-16 fighter was hit by a surface-to-air missile. He landed safely and, after evading capture for six days, was rescued by a search team.

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SEE ALSO:

• Aircraft, Military • Ballistics

• Force • Parachute • Pilot

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