Every military pilot flying today sits on a device that can blast them out of a crippled aircraft in a fraction of a second. From the moment of handle pull to full parachute deployment takes less than two seconds. The seat fires its occupant at up to 20g and 600 mph wind blast, deploys a parachute, releases the person from the seat, and leaves them floating safely to earth — all automatically, all reliably, all from altitudes as low as zero feet and zero airspeed. More than 7,500 aircrew have used ejection seats to survive aircraft emergencies since 1946. The vast majority of those seats came from a small company in Buckinghamshire, England: Martin-Baker.

The Problem: Jet Aircraft Are Too Fast to Jump From

In propeller aircraft, a pilot in distress could, in theory, climb out of the cockpit and jump — the aircraft was slow enough and the cockpit open enough (or at least openable) that this was survivable. By 1944, jet aircraft were entering service capable of 500 mph and above. At those speeds, attempting to physically climb out of a cockpit into the slipstream would kill you instantly — the aerodynamic forces would pin you to the aircraft or tear you apart. Something had to propel the pilot clear of the aircraft before the parachute could deploy.

James Martin and Valentine Baker had founded their aircraft company in 1934 and had been building experimental aircraft throughout the war. In 1944, the British Air Ministry asked Martin to design an emergency escape system for jet pilots. Baker, who had been Martin's test pilot and closest collaborator, died in a prototype aircraft crash in 1942 — which gave Martin a personal motivation for ensuring that future test pilots had a way out. He kept Baker's name on the company and threw himself into the problem of pilot escape.

The First Ejection

Martin-Baker's first ejection seat used an ejection gun — two telescopic tubes fired by an explosive cartridge — to fire the pilot upward. The first test on a live human subject took place on 24 July 1946, at Chalgrove Airfield in Oxfordshire. The test pilot was Bernard Lynch, a 28-year-old Irish test subject who had been repeatedly fired up the rig in static tests and agreed to the first live airborne test. The aircraft — a modified Gloster Meteor jet — flew at 320 mph and 8,000 feet. Lynch pulled the handle. He was fired clear, the parachute deployed, and he landed safely. The ejection seat had been demonstrated to work.

James Martin immediately began improving the design. The ejection gun grew more powerful, and a rocket motor was later added to extend the escape envelope. He added automatic systems to deploy the parachute and separate the pilot from the seat. He worked obsessively on the problem of low-altitude ejections — the "zero-zero" seat that could save a pilot even at ground level and zero airspeed became his primary goal. He achieved it in the early 1960s with rocket-assisted seats — the first live zero-zero test ejection took place in 1961.

The Caterpillar Club Gets New Members

Martin-Baker maintains a register of every person who has used one of their seats to survive an emergency. Anyone on the register is entitled to join the "Ejection Tie Club" — a nod to the older "Caterpillar Club" (for those who had parachuted from aircraft in distress). Members receive a distinctive tie or pin. The list now exceeds 7,500 names. It includes fighter pilots, test pilots, crew members of carrier-based aircraft, and a handful of civilians.

James Martin himself oversaw testing with fierce personal commitment. He insisted on flying on aircraft during tests. He attended every significant development ejection. He reportedly subjected himself to static firings on the ground rig on multiple occasions. He received a knighthood in 1965 for his contribution to aviation safety. He died in 1981 at the age of 87, having built what remained the dominant ejection seat company in the world — a position Martin-Baker still holds today.

The Physics of Survival

A modern Martin-Baker seat fires at approximately 20g of acceleration. The entire sequence from handle pull to full parachute deployment takes less than two seconds at altitude, and can operate at zero altitude and zero airspeed. The seat uses a rocket motor (not just an explosive charge) to extend the envelope to the most demanding escape scenarios. At higher altitudes and speeds, the seat stabilises itself with a drogue parachute before the main canopy deploys, preventing the tumbling that would injure or kill the occupant.

The ejection seat is one of the least glamorous achievements in aviation history — it is, by definition, only used when everything has gone wrong. But the 7,500-plus people alive today who would otherwise be dead represent an extraordinary contribution to human welfare. The RAF's unofficial nickname for the seat captures it with typical brevity: they call it "the last resort."

Sources: Martin-Baker Aircraft Company records; Norman Macmillan, Into the Blue (1969); RAF Museum; Royal Aeronautical Society historical records.