Eject! Eject! - John Nichol
Join Date: Aug 2021
Location: Not far offa the dyke....
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Highest ever?
Highest recorded and completely successful ejection therefore, to my mind, has to go to J Peter de Salis and Pat Lowe who both survived after choosing to leave their Canberra B6 WT207 over Derbyshire in 1958. Any advance on 56,000 ft? (although it may have been higher, as the Scorpion rocket motors they were testing at the time probably propelled them upwards when they exploded...!)
Link here, including a further link on the page to Pat Lowe's own account,: English Electric Canberra WT207; Lathkill Dale, then and now
Is that one in the book, JN?
Megan - surely Bill Weaver's doesn't count as an ejection, nor a wholly successful one; not only was it was not (as far as Bill could recall) a deliberate initiation of the seat (the crew were probably thrown clear as the aircraft disintegrated), but sadly Jim Zwayer (Lockheed systems specialist on board at the time) did not survive.
Join Date: Aug 2021
Location: Not far offa the dyke....
Posts: 21
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Received 16 Likes
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As my post said he didn't use the seat, in fact his straps were severed by the forces involved in the aircrafts break up thus separating him from the seat, the two crew were thrown clear as the aircraft broke up, Jim having his neck broken and thus dying from the break up g forces involved.
Back to the book.....how about Bill Tollitt? - first RAF aircrew to eject from an RAF aircraft (Meteor Mk8 VZ569, 65 Sqn, Jul 1951; out of Linton following a mid-air collision during interception practice)...a Mk1 seat again, so entirely manual seat initiation, harness release and parachute inflation to be carried out separately by the occupant of the seat...Bill had frostbite to his fingers after descending from 30,000ft, so was unable to release the harness; he landed unconscious with a fractured skull, still attached to seat and with the parachute between his legs; but survived and recovered to transfer to the RCAF (Sabres, 427 Sqn) and later flew civil airliners. Respect!
Hello Buster - I must confess, that as mere Nav, as long as both engines were there when I got in, made ear-pleasingly roaring noises when turned on, and didn't stop until turned off.... I truly didn't think too much about them. They mostly worked well for me. Apart from when a SAM went up one of course....
By todays standards, they are not quite cutting edge.
But when they were designed they were extremely advanced. And in particular very fuel efficient, as well as being both compact and powerful.
And thank you so much for your quick response. I have watched pretty much every one of your YT videos with great interest.
Nothing mere about being a Nav.
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I enjoyed Tornado, certainly as your telling of the story of Pete Rochelle recovering his badly damaged ZD843 back to Dhahran tied in exactly to the meat of the chapter I wrote in Dave Gledhill's Groundcrew Boys! Met and chatted to Robbie Stewart in the lobby of the RAF club one Remembrance Sunday, our Gulf War gongs being the ice breaker. I have ordered "Eject" but the wife will be saving it for my birthday next month.
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Excellent choice of gift - (I wouldn't want this thread to become a sales pitch, but in an effort to boost local businesses instead of the usual huge on-line folk) you'll find many local, small bookshops, have access to some of the 5000 copies I pre-signed & also sell on-line.. Support your high street!
Though I would CERTAINLY prefer the Aston Martin......
Though I would CERTAINLY prefer the Aston Martin......
I shall certainly be ordering a copy from them, not South-American-river.com.
John, I totally agree, any chance you can get a signed copy or two to The Little Ripon Bookshop, a lovely independent bookshop in Ripon (which I believe was your old haunting ground in your Leeming days?)
I shall certainly be ordering a copy from them, not South-American-river.com.
I shall certainly be ordering a copy from them, not South-American-river.com.
Thanks (& you Jump) for the input - All the wonderful indy book shops have access to the signed stock (needless to say, I can't order them to take some!) - but if you ask them, they can get them. Or loads of the other indies sell online so signed books are readily available.
& yes, Ripon was my stomping ground for a good few years. I lived about 50 yards from the Raj curry house owned by the venerable Mr Ali - is it/he still there?
& yes, Ripon was my stomping ground for a good few years. I lived about 50 yards from the Raj curry house owned by the venerable Mr Ali - is it/he still there?
A bit of thread drift, but a still a tenuous link to ‘Eject Eject’. Many (many) years ago whilst at a 12(B) Sqn ‘Old Boys’ Reunion’(the Wickenby Register) I had the privilege of meeting, Jim D*****, a Wireless Operator (WOp), late of 550 Sqn - the guest of a 12 (B) Sqn Lancaster WOp - who flew Lancasters from North Killingholme. Jim was ‘ejected’ from his Lanc…totally without his say so, I have to add, and survived to tell the tale!
On one of the Berlin raids in Jan 44 (I forget the exact date) en route to the target Jim was sitting happily (sic
) tapping away on his T1154/R1155…and, in an instant, he found himself dangling on his parachute, with no recollection of what had happened! After trying (unsuccessfully) to evade for two days in the winter on the North German Plain, suffering from severe frostbite (he had lost his left flying boot), and no doubt in severe shock, he knocked on the door of a farmhouse and gave himself up! After being interrogated at Dulag Luft near Frankfurt he discovered what had occurred, and that, unfortunately, he was the only survivor of his crew!
What had happened was this…unbeknown to the crew, a Ju 88, fitted with Schrage Musik 20mm MGs, had slipped below their ac, and had pumped a number of rounds into the bomb bay! These had detonated the 4000lb ‘Cookie’ that was fitted in the bomb bay below Jim’s station! The ensuing explosion destroyed both the Lanc, and also the Ju 88 itself. This was maybe a novice JU 88 crew, as I believe that the SOP for Schrage Musik was to aim at the fuel tanks between the engines, thus enabling the night fighter to get clear before the fire in the bomber took hold.
Fortuitously for Jim, the detonation of the Cookie ‘ejected’ him out of the ac, with the blast, by chance, forcing his parachute open!!!
This may seem absolutely incredible, but this wasn’t Jim ‘shooting a line’. He showed me press cuttings of when he and his son visited (in the early 90s) the village in Germany that he had landed close to! The Burger Meister took them to the farmhouse where he had surrendered and the (now) elderly farmer remembered Jim chapping on his Grandfather’s door in 1944. They also visited the site of where his ac had crashed and Jim was presented with a piece of a bomb splinter recovered from the wreckage of his aircraft!!!
Jim lived the rest of his life as a school teacher (I think) and his experiences, as far as I know, had little PTSD-type ramifications…at least that’s what his wife told my wife when they were talking about it! However, if it had been me I think that I would have become a missionary or a Minister of Religion, as obviously ‘the Man Above’ had things planned for him.
Just one amazing story, out of a plethora of amazing stories.
On one of the Berlin raids in Jan 44 (I forget the exact date) en route to the target Jim was sitting happily (sic
) tapping away on his T1154/R1155…and, in an instant, he found himself dangling on his parachute, with no recollection of what had happened! After trying (unsuccessfully) to evade for two days in the winter on the North German Plain, suffering from severe frostbite (he had lost his left flying boot), and no doubt in severe shock, he knocked on the door of a farmhouse and gave himself up! After being interrogated at Dulag Luft near Frankfurt he discovered what had occurred, and that, unfortunately, he was the only survivor of his crew!What had happened was this…unbeknown to the crew, a Ju 88, fitted with Schrage Musik 20mm MGs, had slipped below their ac, and had pumped a number of rounds into the bomb bay! These had detonated the 4000lb ‘Cookie’ that was fitted in the bomb bay below Jim’s station! The ensuing explosion destroyed both the Lanc, and also the Ju 88 itself. This was maybe a novice JU 88 crew, as I believe that the SOP for Schrage Musik was to aim at the fuel tanks between the engines, thus enabling the night fighter to get clear before the fire in the bomber took hold.
Fortuitously for Jim, the detonation of the Cookie ‘ejected’ him out of the ac, with the blast, by chance, forcing his parachute open!!!
This may seem absolutely incredible, but this wasn’t Jim ‘shooting a line’. He showed me press cuttings of when he and his son visited (in the early 90s) the village in Germany that he had landed close to! The Burger Meister took them to the farmhouse where he had surrendered and the (now) elderly farmer remembered Jim chapping on his Grandfather’s door in 1944. They also visited the site of where his ac had crashed and Jim was presented with a piece of a bomb splinter recovered from the wreckage of his aircraft!!!
Jim lived the rest of his life as a school teacher (I think) and his experiences, as far as I know, had little PTSD-type ramifications…at least that’s what his wife told my wife when they were talking about it! However, if it had been me I think that I would have become a missionary or a Minister of Religion, as obviously ‘the Man Above’ had things planned for him.
Just one amazing story, out of a plethora of amazing stories.
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Somewhat off topic, but ALWAYS interesting; it was on Duck Hill in Ripon but doesn't seem to be there now.
I lived in the 'Steward's Flat' in then, 'Ripon City Club' round the corner on Waterskellgate. A truly brilliant bachelor pad.
There are a LOT of now very senior, or recently retired, officers (& v senior airline folk) who danced on my coffee table back in the day.
Including a VERY memorable visit from the police, as the fireworks launched from my window were landing in the Market Square (not big OR clever!).
To be fair, the cop who turned up at the door said; "oh, you again Sir. Could you ask your guests not to set the Market Square on fire please?"
Halcyon days - which are rightly no longer acceptable - indeed!
SOME of you on this forum were there!
I lived in the 'Steward's Flat' in then, 'Ripon City Club' round the corner on Waterskellgate. A truly brilliant bachelor pad.
There are a LOT of now very senior, or recently retired, officers (& v senior airline folk) who danced on my coffee table back in the day.
Including a VERY memorable visit from the police, as the fireworks launched from my window were landing in the Market Square (not big OR clever!).
To be fair, the cop who turned up at the door said; "oh, you again Sir. Could you ask your guests not to set the Market Square on fire please?"
Halcyon days - which are rightly no longer acceptable - indeed!
SOME of you on this forum were there!
Tabs please !
I don't buy many military books however I read the review in this morning's Telegraph where it has been awarded 5 stars. It is on my holiday reading list.
40 years ago, I was a weather guesser and worked with a chap called Alan (Surname ??) who walked with a leg that was bowed out to one side. He was in a met research Canberra which undershot at Leuchars and found himself strapped to his seat with the fishes for company. He pulled the eject handle. He was rescued however was given the last rights with his wife being rushed to Scotland in a Hastings, as he was not expected to survive. He did recover and had a particular walking gait as a souvenir. A really nice bloke and a pleasure to know.
Anyhow, the 5 star review is at the link below.
Eject! Eject! by John Nichol: the seats saving pilots for decades (telegraph.co.uk)
Edit to add...... Good to see you Mr Tay Cough, I won't wait to borrow your copy, given our long standing habit of swapping reading material.
40 years ago, I was a weather guesser and worked with a chap called Alan (Surname ??) who walked with a leg that was bowed out to one side. He was in a met research Canberra which undershot at Leuchars and found himself strapped to his seat with the fishes for company. He pulled the eject handle. He was rescued however was given the last rights with his wife being rushed to Scotland in a Hastings, as he was not expected to survive. He did recover and had a particular walking gait as a souvenir. A really nice bloke and a pleasure to know.
Anyhow, the 5 star review is at the link below.
Eject! Eject! by John Nichol: the seats saving pilots for decades (telegraph.co.uk)
Edit to add...... Good to see you Mr Tay Cough, I won't wait to borrow your copy, given our long standing habit of swapping reading material.
Last edited by B Fraser; 21st May 2023 at 08:51. Reason: insert comma, not an author !
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I enjoyed Tornado, certainly as your telling of the story of Pete Rochelle recovering his badly damaged ZD843 back to Dhahran tied in exactly to the meat of the chapter I wrote in Dave Gledhill's Groundcrew Boys! Met and chatted to Robbie Stewart in the lobby of the RAF club one Remembrance Sunday, our Gulf War gongs being the ice breaker. I have ordered "Eject" but the wife will be saving it for my birthday next month.
This was also the sortie Bob & Simon 'Budgie.' Burgess were lost - both aircraft seriously damaged due to incorrectly fused 1000lb'ers which detonated immediately after release - they were all VERY lucky to survive.
Tragically of course, Budgie lost his life later in a truly horrendous Hawk incident. RIP old chum.
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Flt Lt Cunningham. In both cases parts of the aircraft were dismantled to access the part to be worked on, reassembled wrongly, and the disturbed part was not checked. The difference I believe is that in Flt Lt Burgess' case it was an error of omission, but in Cunningham's case it was a policy directive.
Flt Lt Cunningham. In both cases parts of the aircraft were dismantled to access the part to be worked on, reassembled wrongly, and the disturbed part was not checked. The difference I believe is that in Flt Lt Burgess' case it was an error of omission, but in Cunningham's case it was a policy directive.
I fully describe Budgie's in TORNADO - his Hawk out of control because of a servicing error involving aircraft controls. And a subsequent ejection out of parameters.
I also cover Sean's incident in EJECT - a sequence of largely unlinked occurrences, including the ejection seat servicing error, which resulted in a truly awful accident witnessed by one of my friends.
With access to both Boards of Inquiry, I am WELL aware of the vagaries of both incidents, and especially the controversy surrounding Sean's accident (I had met him with my family a few months earlier during a visit to the Reds. We also met Jon Egging that day - another sad loss for the RAF and especially of course, his loved ones).
I know this is an ongoing discussion on other forums, but other than the human failing aspect, would suggest there is no common theme other than the tragic death of 2 fine pilots.
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My being familiar with many of the stories in the book in no way diminished my enjoyment of it. Lots of the pages reminded me of other occurrences that could lead me into an enormous stream of anecdotes and serious distractions. With this in mind, I admire the way John has avoided rambling off theme as I might have done. I particularly liked his structuring of the narrative, finding links that I would not have spotted, enabling cross-references forwards and back across time. Really good stuff.
Did I tell you the F4 high-speed ejection story, as recounted to me by the pilot late one evening in the bar of the Cocoa Beach Hilton?
Did I tell you the F4 high-speed ejection story, as recounted to me by the pilot late one evening in the bar of the Cocoa Beach Hilton?
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