Martin Baker
 

The current issue of "Professional Engineering" contains some tantalising job adverts at Martin Baker for assorted professional Engineers. (Senior Test, Senior Production, Production, R&M).

Has anybody any experience for working for them, or an idea of the sort of salaries on offer?

G

Hi,Genghis,
How much do they pay the guy who gets to ride the bang-seat?!!
regards
TDD

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Drink,gurls,!!!!,arse...

Last I looked, they generally used instrumented dummies.

But,seriously,folks,
Do they ever fire out a real human being? What about the other makers of exploding seats? Do the Russians strap on a Gulag inmate and light the blue touch paper? Or do they just collide at airshows for a live demo in front of the buyers?
All the best
TDD

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Drink,gurls,!!!!,arse...

Oh dear, oh dear, I try to ask a serious question and it descends into this sort of thing. Perhaps I should just apply for the job and see what happens.

The first MB seats were tested using a live subject, if memory serves a workshop chargehand who didn't get out of the way fast enough and ended up doing several dozen ejections.

What they now do is use dummies which are ballasted and sprung to respond like a human being, but contain instrumentation so that all of the forces applying can be recorded - they then do the best they can within the known human body tolerances. They have four main places to do these tests:-

(1) A firing rig at their HQ in Denham.
(2) A converted 2-seat meteor, where the dummy is fitted in the back seat and ejected by the pilot in the front.
(3) The blower tunnel at Boscombe Down, where they can do ejections from the actual type of cockpit it'll be fitted in, then catch the seat in giant nets.
(4) A high speed trolley at Farnborough.

The other standard question is whether they invented it all themselves; they didn't, having bought-out the other British ejection seat manufacturer, Folland, in the 1960s.

I suppose this means nobody has any idea how much they pay their Engineers then?

Nowhere near enough for things that go BANG would be my guess

Now,now,Genghis
Don't get so touchy! The individual who was shot out of early MB test aircraft was one Benny Lynch,an ex-Irish Air Corps techie.Rumour has it that he was one inch shorter by the time all the tests were finished.Bloody typical that James Martin,from Norn Iron,would shoot a Southern Irishman towards his god on a hot-seat!! Anyway,your gen is very interesting
Cheers
TDD

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Drink,gurls,!!!!,arse...