Martin-Baker Aircraft Company

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Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd.

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1934
Seat Higher Denham , United Kingdom
Branch Aircraft construction
Website www.martin-baker.com

The Martin-Baker Aircraft Company is a pioneer and today the world market leader in the development and manufacture of ejection seats and a former aircraft manufacturer. The company's headquarters is located in Higher Denham ( Buckinghamshire , UK). According to the company, Martin-Baker ejection seats saved the lives of nearly 7,500 pilots. Today, in addition to ejection seats, the company also manufactures seats for helicopters as well as heat shields and parachutes for spacecraft.

history

The Martin Baker Aircraft Company Limited in 1934 by James Martin (1893-1981) (from 1965: Sir James Martin) and Captain Valentine Baker ( MC , DFC ) (1888 to 1942) as Martin's Aircraft Works founded and then still put forth airplanes. Valentine Baker died on September 12, 1942 during a test flight with the prototype of the Martin-Baker MB3 .

Planes

During the Second World War, Martin Baker developed several prototypes of military aircraft, none of which were produced in series.

During World War II , the company manufactured armored seats for the Supermarine Spitfire .

Ejection seats

Since 1944, the company has also been developing ejection seats. It soon became apparent that spring systems were not enough and only rocket or explosion systems would provide adequate performance. The company's first ejection seat was tested by Bert Lynch on July 24, 1946 on board a Gloster Meteor at 510 km / h at an altitude of 2,500 m. The first use in an emergency situation was carried out by a British pilot in an Armstrong Whitworth AW52 experimental aircraft in May 1949. The ejection seats made today by Martin-Baker for all American fighter aircraft are 0/0 , that is, they are at a speed and Height from zero perfectly functional.

Since women were also allowed to take part in combat missions from the 1990s, it became necessary to adapt the ejection seats to their average lower weight and size.

Martin Baker Mk. GT5
  • Mark 1 - built into EE Canberra, Gloster Meteor, Hawker Hunter, Hawker Sea Hawk, Supermarine Attacker, Westland Wyvern, Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck and Supermarine Swift
  • Mark 2 - built into Canberra, CF-100, Hawker Hunter, Supermarine Attacker, Westland Wyvern, Sea Hawk, Meteor, Venom, Supermarine Swift, Saunders Roe
  • Mark 3 - built into Canberra, Hunter, Valiant, Vampire, Swift, Javelin, Vulcan, Victor, Fairey Delta 2, Bristol 221
  • Mark 4 - built into MB-326, Strikemaster, Étendard IV, Mirage III, Mystère, Ouragan, Alpha Jet, DH Vampire, EE Canberra, EE Lightning, Fouga Magister, Ajeet, Marut, Kiran, Hawker Hunter, SEPECAT Jaguar, Vautour
  • Mark 5 - built into Mirage III, F4D Skyray, A-6 Intruder, F-11 Tiger, OV-1 Mohawk, T-33 Shooting Star, TRV-1 SeaStar, F3H Demon, F-4K Phantom II, FJ-4 Fury , F-86D Saber, F-100 Super Saber, F-84F Thunderstreak, F-8 Crusader
  • Mark GT5 - built into RF84F ThunderFlash (built in 1961, in use until approx. 1976)
  • Mark 6 - installed in MB-326 / Atlas Impala, Atlas Cheetah, Buccaneer, Mirage III, Ouragan, Super Étendard, Fiat G.91, IA 58 Pucará, IAI Dagger / Kfir
  • Mark 7 - built into Starfighter (GQ7), F-4F Phantom (MK7)
  • Mark 8 - built into IA 63 Pampa, Short Tucano
  • Mark 9 - installed in Dornier Do 31, HS Harrier GR1, Nord 500, SEPECAT Jaguar, VFW VAK 191B
  • Mark 10A - installed in Panavia Tornado , Alpha Jet , MB-339 , Nanchang A-5C "Fantan" , Dassault Mirage 5 and Chengdu F-7
  • Mark 10L - built into Pampa, Saab JAS-39 Gripen , Hawk , AMX , Super Tucano , F-5 "Tiger II" , T-36, CASA C-101 , Cheetah, K-8, Soko G-4, S- 211, EMB-312 Tucano , IAR-99, V-22, IAI Kfir
  • Mark 11 - built into the Pilatus PC-9 , PC-7 MkII , PZL-130
  • Mark 12 - built into Harrier
  • Mark 14 - built into F-14D , F / A-18C / D
  • Mark 15 - built into the PC-7 MkII
  • Mark 16 - installed in F-35 JSF , Eurofighter Typhoon , Rafale , Pilatus PC-21 , Northrop T-38, T-6 Texan II

Ejection Tie Club

Membership in the Ejection Tie Club is reserved for pilots whose lives have been saved by a Martin Baker ejector seat. Each club member receives a certificate, membership card, badge, tie, pin or, for women, a brooch. All of these memorabilia are marked with the international warning symbol for ejection seats, a red triangle.

The first pilot to be accepted into the Ejection Tie Club was a Royal Air Force pilot who crashed over what was then Rhodesia in 1957 . Today the club has over 5800 members.

Special occurrences

On November 8, 2011, a pilot on the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows aerobatic team was thrown 60 m into the air while checking his Hawk T1 jet prior to a flight at RAF Scampton Air Force Base and was killed when his Mark 10B ejector seat came off but the parachute did not open. A judicial investigation established the manufacturer's guilt for death as a screw was tightened too much, preventing the parachute from opening. The false triggering was not caused by a manufacturer error, as a further investigation had previously shown. The manufacturer acknowledged responsibility for the death of the pilot and agreed to pay the legal costs of £ 550,000 in addition to the £ 1.1 million fine.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin-Baker's website . Martin-Baker, accessed July 31, 2015 .
  2. ↑ James Martin's curriculum vitae. Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, archived from the original on June 18, 2012 ; accessed on March 27, 2014 (English).
  3. ^ The History and Developments of Martin Baker America. (PDF; 54 kB) Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, July 4, 2012, p. 8 f , archived from the original on March 27, 2014 ; accessed on March 27, 2014 (English).
  4. ↑ Stefan Schmitt: So close to heaven. How modern ejection seats achieve technical masterpieces . In: time knowledge . No. 1 , December 10, 2008, p. 68–71 (“The moment the tube in the backrest and the one on the cockpit floor are separated, the thrust suddenly subsides. This was a problem for the engineers for a long time: if they used a propellant that was too weak, the pilot couldn't get it safely If they were too strong, they risked spinal injuries. The problem became even more acute when the first women boarded fighter jets. After all, an ejection seat has since been able to bring their on average delicate bodies to a safe place just as unscathed as those of a much heavier one significantly larger man. ").
  5. ↑ Ejection Seats. Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, archived from the original on March 28, 2014 ; accessed on March 27, 2014 (English).
  6. ↑ Ejection Tie Club by Martin-Baker . Martin-Baker, accessed July 31, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Helen Pidd, Ejector seat maker fined £ 1.1m over death of Red Arrows pilot , in: The Guardian , February 23, 2018, accessed March 21, 2018