Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited is a British manufacturer of

ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the aircraft pilot, pilot or other aircrew, crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an exp ...

s and safety-related equipment for aviation. The company was originally an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection seats. The company's headquarters are in Higher Denham,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England, with other sites in France, Italy and the United States. Martin-Baker supplies ejection seats for 93 air forces worldwide."Martin-Basker: About."
''Martin-Baker.'' Retrieved: 31 October 2012. Martin-Baker seats have been fitted into over 200 fixed-wing and rotary types with the most recent being the

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic Stealth aircraft, stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and att ...

programme. Martin-Baker claimed in 2022 that since the first live ejection test in 1945, a total of 7,777 lives have been saved by the company's ejection seats. Martin-Baker also manufactures what it calls "crashworthy" seats for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. , over 20,000 crashworthy seats have been delivered. The Martin-Baker company continues as a family-run business, run by the twin sons of the late Sir James Martin since Autumn 1979.

History

The factory for building aircraft was established in 1929 by James Martin and "Martin's Aircraft Works" was founded at Denham by James Martin and Captain Valentine Baker with financial help from Francis Francis. The company was building a prototype aircraft, the MB 1, using the design patents for aircraft structures held by Martin. On 17 August 1934, the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company was formed to continue the work of aircraft development."Martin-Baker: History and developments."
''Martin-Baker.'' Retrieved: 31 October 2012. Martin and Baker designed an unconventional, two-seat, low-wing monoplane design in the early 1930s as the MB 1. This was powered by a

de Havilland Gipsy The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre ( ...

engine mounted in the fuselage behind the seats and driving a fixed pitch propeller through a shaft running horizontally between the pilot and passenger. The project was abandoned due to financial constraints, although the fuselage and engine installation had been completed. Martin-Baker also constructed an

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

Raoul Hafner Raoul Hafner, (1905–1980) FEng, FRAes, was an Austrian-born British helicopter pioneer and engineer. He made a distinctive contribution to the British aerospace industry, particularly in the development of helicopters. Life Born in 1905, he ...

. This, their first complete aircraft project, was later tested by Captain Baker at

Heston Aerodrome Heston Aerodrome was an airfield located to the west of London, England, operational between 1929 and 1947. It was situated on the border of the Heston and Cranford areas of Hounslow, Middlesex. In September 1938, the British Prime Minister, ...

. In 1935, Martin and Baker designed and flew their Martin-Baker MB 1, a two-seat light touring aircraft. Their first military design was the

Martin-Baker MB 2 The Martin-Baker MB 2 was a British private-venture fighter prototype based on a simple basic structure that had been developed in the earlier MB 1 civil aircraft. Although briefly evaluated as a fighter by the Royal Air Force, the MB 2 was li ...

, a

Napier Dagger The Napier Dagger was a 24-cylinder H-pattern ''(or H-Block)'' air-cooled engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier before World War II. It was a development of the earlier Napier Rapier. Design and development The H-Block has a ...

–powered fighter that flew in 1938. It was a private venture to meet Air Ministry Specification F.5/34 for a fighter for service in the tropics. The MB 2 was tested but neither it nor other designs to F.5/34 were adopted. *

Martin-Baker MB 3 The Martin-Baker MB 3 was a British prototype fighter aircraft, developed from Martin-Baker’s earlier private ventures, the MB 1 and the MB 2. The design was notable for its heavy armament of six 20 mm Hispano cannons. The fatal crash ...

(1942): a six-cannon fighter design, powered by a

Napier Sabre The Napier Sabre is a British H engine, H-24-cylinder, coolant, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aircraft engine, aero engine, designed by Frank Halford, Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolv ...

. Baker was killed in a crash while testing the prototype. * Martin-Baker MB 4 (1943): a

Rolls-Royce Griffon The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37-litre (2,240 cubic inch, cu in) Engine displacement, capacity, 60-degree V12 engine, V-12, liquid-cooled Aircraft engine, aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited. In keeping with compan ...

-engined fighter, cancelled on the drawing board. The

Martin-Baker MB 5 The British Martin-Baker MB 5 was the ultimate development of a series of prototype fighter aircraft built during the Second World War. Neither the MB 5 nor its predecessors ever entered mass production, production, despite what test pilots desc ...

which first flew in 1944 had started out as the second MB 3 prototype but was extensively redesigned with a tubular steel fuselage. It used the Griffon engine driving contra-rotating propellers. * Martin-Baker MB 6 (1945): a Second World War jet fighter project with a swing-arm, 0/0 spring-loaded ejection seat. * Martin-Baker MB 7 (1946) ''Black Bess'': a postwar interceptor/high-speed test aircraft concept. Small flying models were made but the project was cancelled in 1947. Martin-Baker manufactured aircraft components, including retrofit improvements to the ammunition belt feeds for the Hispano Mk II autocannon and armoured seats for

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...

s, throughout the Second World War. James Martin also designed and manufactured explosive bolt cutters fitted to bomber wings to cut barrage balloon cables that were fitted to many aircraft and saved a number of aircraft. In 1944, the company was approached by the

Ministry of Aircraft Production Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

to investigate ejection systems enabling pilots to bail out safely from high-speed fighter aircraft.

Ejection seats

Martin-Baker investigated ejection seats from 1934 onwards, several years before Germany and Sweden proposed similar systems in 1938. The company concluded that an explosive-powered ejection seat was the best solution. In particular, Baker's death in 1942 during a test flight of the MB 3 affected Martin so much that pilot safety became his primary focus and led to the later reorganisation of the company to focus primarily on ejection seats. In 1944, James Martin was asked by the Ministry of Aircraft Production to develop methods for fighter pilots to escape their aircraft. Martin decided that the best method involved ejection of the seat with the occupant sitting in it, aided by an explosive charge. After ejection, the pilot would separate from the seat and open his parachute by pulling a ripcord in the usual way. At that time there was little information 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. Tests would have to be conducted to find out how much upward "g" force a person could tolerate. These were done by shooting a seat up a near-vertical path, loading the seat to represent the weight of the occupant, and measuring the accelerations involved. A test rig was built in the form of a tripod, one of the legs being in the form of guide rails. The seat was propelled up the guide rails by a gun, consisting of two telescopic tubes energised by an explosive cartridge. The guide rails were provided with ratchet stops every so that the seat was automatically arrested at the top of its travel. Studies were conducted to find the limits of upward acceleration that the human body could stand. The first dummy shot with the seat loaded to was made on 20 January 1945, and four days later one of the company's experimental fitters, Bernard Lynch, undertook the first "live" ride, being shot up the rig to a height of . In three further tests, the power of the cartridge was progressively increased until a height of 10 feet was reached, at which stage Lynch reported the onset of considerable physical discomfort. The first seat was successfully live-tested by Lynch on 24 July 1946, who ejected from a

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneere ...

travelling at IAS at over

Chalgrove Airfield Chalgrove Airfield is a former Second World War airfield in Oxfordshire, England. It is approximately north-northeast of Benson in the heart of South Oxfordshire between Henley and Oxford; about north-northwest of London. Opened in 1943, it ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. The first production Martin-Baker ejection seat, a ' Pre-Mk 1', was installed in the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 prototype. The first use of an ejection seat in a practical application by a British pilot involved the

Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 was an early flying wing aircraft designed and produced by British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. The A.W.52 emerged from wartime research into the laminar flow airfoil, which indicated that ...

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 the " zero-zero" capability in 1961.

Applications

Martin-Baker Mk.1

Martin-Baker Mk.2

Martin-Baker Mk.3

Martin-Baker Mk.4

Martin-Baker Mk.5

Martin-Baker Mk.6

Martin-Baker Mk.7

Martin-Baker Mk.8

Embraer EMB 312 Tucano The Embraer EMB 312 Tucano (English: ''Toucan'') is a Monoplane#Low, low-wing, tandem-seat, single-turboprop, basic trainer (aircraft), trainer and light attack aircraft developed and produced by Embraer in Brazil. The Brazilian Air Force sponso ...

BAC TSR-2 The British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2 is a cancelled Cold War strike and reconnaissance aircraft developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The TSR-2 was designed ...

Martin-Baker Mk.9

Dornier Do 31 The Dornier Do 31 is an experimental, jet propulsion, jet-propelled, VTOL, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) cargo aircraft that was designed and produced by West Germany, West German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Flugzeugwerke, Dornier. The ...

Hawker Siddeley Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier is a British jet-powered attack aircraft designed and produced by the British aerospace company Hawker Siddeley. It was the first operational ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft with vertical/short takeo ...

* Nord 500 *

SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is a British-French supersonic jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. As of 2025, the Jaguar remains in service with the ...

VFW VAK 191B The VFW VAK 191B was an experimental German VTOL, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) strike fighter of the early 1970s. VAK was the abbreviation for ''Vertikalstartendes Aufklärungs- und Kampfflugzeug'' (Vertical Take-off Reconnaissance and St ...

Martin-Baker Mk.10

Martin-Baker Mk.11

Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing Tandem#Aviation, tandem-seat Trainer aircraft, training aircraft, designed and manufactured in Switzerland by Pilatus Aircraft. The aircraft is capable of all basic training functions, including aer ...

Pilatus PC-9 The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft designed and manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Developed as a more powerful evolution of the preceding Pilatus PC-7, the PC-9 features an enlar ...

* PZL-130TC Orlik

Martin-Baker Mk.12

* Hawker Siddeley Harrier

Martin-Baker Mk.14 NACES (SJU-17)

This ejection seat is used by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and is often designated Martin-Baker NACES (Naval Aircrew Ejection Seat) SJU-17 with a suffix letter for the different variants. * Grumman F-14D Tomcat *

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, fighter and attack airc ...

McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) T-45 Goshawk is a highly modified version of the British BAE Systems Hawk land-based training jet aircraft. Manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) and British Aerospace (now BAE Systems), the T-45 is u ...

Martin-Baker Mk.15

* Pilatus PC-7 Mk II * UTVA Kobac

Martin-Baker Mk.16

Aero L-39 Skyfox The Aero L-39 Skyfox, also known as Aero L-39NG ("Next Generation"), is a turbofan-powered military Trainer aircraft, trainer and light combat aircraft developed and produced by the Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody. It is a successor ...

Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master The Aermacchi M-346 Master is a family of military Twinjet, twin-engine transonic advanced jet trainers and light combat aircraft. Originally co-developed with Yakovlev as the Yak/AEM-130, the partnership was dissolved in 2000 and then Alenia Ae ...

Beechcraft T-6 Texan II The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop aircraft built by Textron Aviation. It is a license-built Pilatus PC-9, a trainer aircraft. The T-6 replaced the United States Air Force's Cessna T-37B Tweet and the United States Nav ...

Dassault Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French Twinjet, twin-engine, Canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft designed and ...

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Syste ...

TAI Hürkuş The TAI Hürkuş (Free Bird) is a tandem two-seat, low-wing, single-engine, turboprop aircraft being produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) as a trainer and ground attack aircraft for the Turkish Armed Forces. The aircraft is named af ...

Northrop T-38 Talon The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet Supersonic aircraft, supersonic jet trainer designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the world's first supersonic trainer as well as the most produced. ...

Pilatus PC-21 The Pilatus PC-21 is a turboprop-powered advanced Trainer (aircraft), trainer with a stepped tandem cockpit. It is manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Development In November 1997 Pilatus flew a modified Pilatus PC-7, PC-7 Mk.II in ...

HAL Tejas The HAL Tejas () is an Indian single-engine, delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole Military aircraft, combat aircraft designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for t ...

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Martin-Baker Mk.17

Extremely compact and lightweight ejection seat designed with minimise mass and maintenance. Most lightweight ejection seat in Martin-Baker inventory. *

Grob G 120TP The Grob G 120TP is a two-seat turboprop training and aerobatic low-wing aircraft with a composite airframe, built by Grob Aircraft. It is based on the Grob G 120A training aircraft and has been developed for military and civil pilots trai ...

Martin-Baker Mk.18

KAI KF-21 Boramae The KAI KF-21 Boramae (Korean: KF-21 보라매; KF-21 Fighting Hawk; formerly known as KF-X) is a South Korean-led fighter aircraft development program with the initial goal of producing multirole fighters for the South Korean Air Force. The ...

Operations

The Martin-Baker company uses its own airfield,

, in Oxfordshire for operational testing of ejection seats. In 2016, ejection tests were carried out at

Cazaux Air Base Cazaux Air Base () is a French Air and Space Force () base. The base is located in the village of Cazaux, part of the town of La Teste-de-Buch, and is approximately southwest of Bordeaux. Overview The air base was created at the behest of C ...

; the company's Meteor aircraft testbeds were flown from Chalgrove to France for them. Two Gloster Meteor T.7 aircraft, ''WL419'' and ''WA638'', remain in service with the company as flying testbeds. Another Meteor (''WA634''), used in early development of ejection seats, is retained at the

RAF Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body and is a registered charity. It has two public sites, Royal Air Force Museum London and Royal Air Fo ...

RAF Cosford Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford (formerly DCAE Cosford) is a Royal Air Force station near to the village of Cosford, Shropshire, England just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton. It is a training station, home to ...

Ejection Tie Club

Martin-Baker also sponsors an "Ejection Tie Club", producing a tie, patch, certificate, tie pin and membership card for those whose lives have been saved by a Martin-Baker ejection seat. The company also partnered with Bremont to produce a limited-edition wristwatch for members of the club. The watch must be purchased privately, though Martin-Baker does subsidize its cost. , there are now over 6,000 registered members of the club since it was founded in 1957.

Red Arrows pilot incident

In 2011,

Red Arrows The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force (RAF) based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-Royal Air Force team, replacing several un ...

pilot Flt. Lt. Sean Cunningham was ejected from his Hawk T1 jet on the ground at

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton (formerly ) is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located adjacent to the A15 road (England), A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-wes ...

. The parachute failed to deploy and Cunningham was killed. On 22 January 2018, company director John Martin entered a guilty plea to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 on behalf of Martin-Baker wherein he admitted that the company had been aware of a technical problem with the ejector seat since 1990, but failed to notify the RAF. The firm admitted the health and safety breach on the basis it had failed to provide a written warning to the RAF about over-tightening a bolt on the aircraft.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bowyer, Michael J.F. ''Interceptor Fighters for the Royal Air Force 1935-45''. Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1984. . * Green, William, ed. "Mr. Martin's Memorable M.B.5." ''Air International'' Vol. 16, no. 2, February 1979. * Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Fighters, Volume Two''. London, Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1961. * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''WW2 Fact Files: RAF Fighters, Part 2''. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1979. . * Johnson, Brian and Terry Heffernan. ''A Most Secret Place: Boscombe Down, 1939–45.'' London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1982. . * * * Zuk, Bill. ''Janusz Zurakowski: Legends in the Sky.'' St. Catharine's, Ontario: Vanwell, 2004. . *

External links

*
Electronic Library, see ''Propulsion Systems Contribution to Success of Aircrew Emergency Escape Systems''
(PDF File, pay site)

a 1948 ''Flight'' article

a 1954 ''

Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

'' advertisement for Martin-Baker ejection seats
''VTOL''
a 1966 ''Flight'' advertisement for Martin-Baker zero-speed zero altitude ('zero-zero') ejections seats {{Authority control Aircraft component manufacturers of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1929 Companies based in Buckinghamshire Denham, Buckinghamshire Ejection seats Science and technology in Buckinghamshire Science and technology in Oxfordshire Technology companies established in 1929 Family-owned companies of the United Kingdom Privately held companies of the United Kingdom