Originally Posted by
John Nichol
Some records vary (needless to say.... there was a war on & record-keeping was not a priority!) but 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....
Talking about the first Martin Baker seat used in anger, brings me to a little story from 1983. As an Air Cadet at that time was quiet handy at the aircraft recognition competitions thr ATC had at the time. The local wing competition we usually just missed winning but in 1983 we did not. So we found ourselves in the regional competition with our prizes from the wing comp being a load of old Air Britain booklets. One of them had the potted history of the Armstrong Whitworth AW52, including the story of Joe Lancaster. Never really knew anything about that type. Come to the regional competition, a lot harder, very Air Britain on variations and older photos. Oh! The AW52! On the calling of the results, we find that we have won by one point and my brother and I had got the 52 to do so! We get forwarded to the Air Britain preliminary competition at Hendon. Joined by our Cadet WO whom is available this time. We get to the Air Britain final as well. Alas my brother joined the RAF the week before the finals so we didn't do particularly well in both the national finals. The Cadet WO joined the the RAF as a Nav. Tornado mudmover as well. Fat Larry if anyone remembers him.