Originally Posted by
John Nichol
...... it's generally accepted that Helmut Schenk was the first person to 'eject' on 13 Jan 42 from a He-280 - one of the first aircraft to be fitted with a ‘Schleudersitzapparat’: a 265-pound, 'state-of-the-art', compressed air-powered ‘catapult seat device’ escape system....
A 265 pound seat plus a 180 pound crewman, all needing to be moved swiftly by compressed air? Crikey, that would have taken some engineering!