Worth recording here that M-B looks after its own people, too.
Years ago I was in the PMRAF Hospital Halton (yes, it was years ago!) for an eye operation. In the next bed was an elderly gentleman, in for the same thing. About two hours after I had settled in and we had had a couple of introductory conversations, I noticed that the nurses called him not by his Christian name (gosh, it was a long time ago...), but 'Mr Lynch'. The moustache was white now, not black, but of course it was none other than Bernard Lynch, Martin-Baker's original guinea-pig. He was a bit surprised I knew who he was, but less so perhaps after he found out I was on the Lightning force. He was embarrassed when I said that I and my friends regarded him as our hero and would always be grateful to him. We had much to talk about; he had carried out 17 ejections in all sorts of conditions and experimental configurations
His story was that he had retired, but used to visit the factory frequently to keep up with what was going on. After a while he couldn't see well enough to drive so had stopped going. The MD had noticed and had asked why they didn't see Bernard any more. He was told it was because Bernard had cataracts. "But they can fix those now, can't they?" asked the MD. "Yes" his friends replied, "but there is a two-year waiting list".
The MD went straight into his office and called the Chief of the Air Staff. Result: Bernard was in Halton the following week, got his eyes (and one or two other problems) fixed and was able to resume his M-B visits in the years before he died. Full marks to Martin-Baker's leadership, and I was a bit proud of the Royal Air Force that week too.