Sorry, I should perhaps just clarify matters by saying all this is academic as far as the court case is concerned. The instructions issued by Martin-Baker to customers in the 1960s/70s/80s were:
‘Tighten nut until contact is made with Drogue Shackle. Do not torque. Verify that clearance exists between Drogue Shackle and the Scissor Assembly, and that the shackle can be freely rotated on the Scissor Assembly’.
Had this been followed, would Flt Lt Cunningham be alive? It may very well be that M-B didn't provide the warning in 1990, which was the basic of the HSE's sole charge. But very clearly they understood the issues and included warnings and cautions in their manuals. Their difficulty came when different customers wanted this expressed in different ways. So, just because the HSE said five other users were told in 1990, that doesn't mean MoD wasn't told in slightly different words that reflected its regs and training of the day.