H Peacock,

Many thanks for the update to the Marham Canberra incident. With 4 on board, one had to have been on the Rhumbold seat, so even more remarkable that he survived. IIRC, the pilot broke both legs. One of the navs was badly burned/scarred as well from being dragged along with the wreckage, but eventually recovered enough to become an excellent F4 WSO on 92 Sqn.

100 Sqn Canberra
 

I seem to remember that an intact set of Noritaki chinaware was also recovered from the aircraft. There was a remarkable photo, in Airclues, of the aircraft, in mid-cartwheel, near to the ORP.

3P:ok:

100 Sqn Canberra
 

As I recall one of the Navs who walked away from the wreckage started to pull the handle thought better of it and stopped which probably saved his life - so this could go down as a failed ejection!

This is a sort of failed ejection story, in that at least one participant wasnt a volunteer!.....I wasn't there but remember the fuss, sometime mid 80's in the dim and distant, an ejection from a Tornado, in Germany on exercise (I think). The Nav, thinking they had hit something, punched them both out but actually it was just a traffic avoidance pull up.....oops!

Regards
Xraf:ok:

THat would have been Mr "Woosh-Bang"

3P:ok:

Forget - thanks for that input. There was a Vulcan loss in Anglesey but it was obviously not the one described, with the miraculous intervention of the power lines. One lucky pilot, I wonder if he is still around?

My father was ADO one day when an F-86 lost control and the pilot ejected when the aircraft was banked 90 degrees about a 100 feet above the runway. The pilot still in the seat flew into some trees that were along side the runway. Everyone that saw the ejection figured that the guy was dead, including my father, therefore all of the attention of everyone was to extinguish the fire that resulted from the F-86 crashing.

After the fire was under control my father and the ambulance crew hiked off into the trees to recover the 'body'. After getting through the trees they spotted the ejection seat sitting more or less upright in a small clearing. As they approached the seat the head of the pilot moved and they could see his hands moving.

Apparently the tree tops slowed the seat down and he landed in the cleaning alive. If I remember correctly he had a broken arm and both ankles were broken and he suffered a concussion. In a year he was back flying.

So, I guess that could count as a failed ejection. Sorry, I cannot recall where my father told me this took place or the date.

Failed ejections
 

My attempted ejection was out of a MiG-19 (F-6), Pakistan Air Force,in 1971. In a training Air Combat, 1 vs 1, i entered an inadvertent spin at about 23,000 ft. Recovery attempts were unsuccessful, so i tried to eject. I felt the wind blast and then nothing! I frantically pulled on the handle again with no joy. Got hold of the controls again and recovered!! The typical recovery in a steep dive had the plane clearing terra firma with less than a few hundred feet to spare! Made a smooth landing at home base that would make a corporate pilot's eyes water!The Mig-19 had soviet design,chinese built seat,that had pneumatic thrusters on both sides of the canopy sill, that would lift the canopy into the air stream and thus blow off,pulling the wire attached to a firing mechanism that would trigger the rocket motor under the seat! One thruster failed to fire, and the canopy got derailed and sat offset, with the right side open!
P.A.F modified all Migs with Martin Baker seats after that,which i put to test with much happier results !!

Philleas,

Forgive what might be a daft question, I know nothing about aerodynamics.

If the aeroplane was pitched up (perhaps at stall speed) and the canopy area out of the airstream (or whatever its called), would the canopy under those circumstances still be sufficiently acted upon to be blown clear, allowing the seat to be deployed?

Was it a case of him selecting a little too much.. flap?

What happened afterwards?

(Yes, I know.. he floated gently to earth).

Many years ago a Victor Mk1 tanker was savaged by a Buccaneer which took the tail off. Victor bunted violently and exploded but captain's (Neddy Handscombe) top latch broke under negative G. The seat then came out through the debris and subsequently worked as advertised. Landed in cold north sea unconscious but seen descending by oil rig support vessel. Immersion suit torn and useless but crew of vessel did their best. Chopper picked him up at limit of its range and got Ned to hospital after several resuscitations en-route. Was flying again within year. He was only Victor crew member to survive. Buc landed virtually undamaged. I don't know if this counts as it wasn't really an ejection and it was successful!

Mildly off thread, but in a similar vein...

Some years back, I read an autobiography of a wartime Blenheim gunner (Blenheim Boy by Richard Passmore - well worth a read. There can't have been many other Blenheim aircrew who lived to write their memoirs!). The book ends with him being shot down during a raid over Germany.

With the aircraft, which had had both engines disabled by flak, in a descending spiral, the pilot gave the "Prepare to abandon" order, and so Passmore disconnected his intercom while wriggling out of the turret and clipping on his parachute. By the time he plugged back in, the pilot had given the order to abandon, heard nothing from Passmore, and baled out followed by the observer. Passmore waited for the order, then after a delay crawled up the fuselage to seek clarification, and found the cockpit empty! By now, the aircraft was close to the ground and way below the minimum published height for abandonment, but - faced with certain death if he did nothing - decided to give it a go. In the event, his parachute canopy only opened fully because the aircraft hit the ground immediately beneath him, and the resulting explosion helped the canopy inflate, as well as deflecting his course away from the blazing wreckage. On the ground, he picked himself up and brushed himself off - in time to watch the other two crew-members land in their parachutes! The pilot came over and asked how he'd got down so quickly, and he replied "I came down in the lift!". Just after that some German soldiers arrived and they were captured.

Some guys have all the luck...

The Hawk at Akro hit the ground, the top latch broke, the seat rode up the rail, fired the drogue gun bolt which then extracted the chute and the pilot. Curley ended up sitting on the ground wondering what had happened relatively unharmed.

A privately owned JP5 flying from North Weald in the late 90s had a deactivated seat - or so the owner thought! Because the seats weren't live, he never checked them and didn't notice the top latch on the RHS was dislodged. He took his brother flying and flew a slow roll. When inverted, the RHS (unlatched) rode up the rail and tripped the drouge bolt cartridge which was still installed even though the seat was allegedly 'safe'. The subsequent extraction of the pilot's brother through the hole in the canopy left the chap hanging in the harness with the QRB lodged under his chin as he hadn't connected the crotch loops when strapping in! he landed on a car in the local Tesos breaking his leg in the process.

I'm surprised mention hasn't been made yet of Paul Burns who, like Chris Hirst survived a freak ejection incident in Cyprus -although somewhat earlier.
Paul was the nav who went out of the 60Sqn Javelin on finals and was still strapped in the seat when it hit the ground .............

Tatty Ton Canberra
 

One of the 'wedding guest' navigators was a flt cdr on 43(F) Sqn in the mid-90s - went by the initials of KC. I once spent 2 weeks stuck with him and 2 others in Crete on rates waiting for a replacement part - hell;)! He subsequently got in a bit of bother in a hotel in Vegas(?) when, whilst 'tired and emotional', he barged his way into the right room but on the wrong floor of the hotel, causing some distress to the female occupant!:=

He went on to run the Flight Safety Course at Cranwell!!

3P:E

IIRC this was a 29 Sqn aircraft & was Paul's second Martin Baker exit. The first (10 Feb 64) was from a 60 Sqn Javelin and was entirely successful, although his pilot, Gordon Sykes, suffered a broken back.

Wiggy, partly correct. I visited the sqn shortly afterwards and

This was SOP but the pilot had to eject almost immediately afterwards because aerodynamic suck would build up and lock the front canopy on thus

would be I do not recall a canopy interlock but then I was not on the FGR2 for long.

immediately after the navigator ejected. The pilot's canopy then hit the navigator. The pilot survived.

"IIRC this was a 29 Sqn aircraft & was Paul's second Martin Baker exit."
It was 29Sqn on that occasion. I stand corrected.

Not sure about 'Failed ejections' - but after too much beer one night and in the compnay of a very tasty little WRAF-lette, I do admit to a 'Failed e*ection'.....

There was a tale of VC10 flight testing with Trubby Trubshaw who thought the thing was about to spin "Bale out, bale out" he called. The recovered.... "COME BACK, COME BACK", he called.... Fortunately, they did!