All T.4s entered service with fixed seats for pilots, in absence of suitable ejection seats. Chance of escape was assessed as somewhat negligible. Ejection seats were retrofitted, entering service circa 1961.
Seems to be a consensus on this question,
redsetter. Regarding the rather important matter of getting out in an emergency, I had a distinct feeling at the start of my "air experience" flight in 1957, that if everything went for a ball of chalk, we were probably all doomed! The unfortunate pilot and navigator would have not only had to hurriedly detach themselves from their own seat harnesses, they would then have had to get rid of this "fumblefingers" schoolboy cadet (me!) who was totally blocking their escape through the access hatch, with the sliding seat in its forward position. Two chances: Zero, and Nil.
Despite those initial misgivings, I still went ahead with the trip, because at the tender age of 18, I was going to live forever, wasn't I? And the thrill of actually handling the controls of what was then a pretty hot aircraft made it an experience not to be missed, whatever the very remotely likely consequences might have been ...
