F-104 Spurs and the History of Ejection Seats

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These distinctive 'spurs' were worn by pilots of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (as well as the later U-2, A-12, and SR-71), earning them the nickname of 'cowboys.' The spurs connected to the aircraft's Stanley C1/C2 ejection seat, and served to pull the pilot's feet in just prior to the seat firing to protect them from injury on the way out of the aircraft.

[@billgund4532]

My dad was a 104 IP in the mid-late 60's. Sadly, dad passed in '21. I proudly display his dinged up flight helmet, threadbare flight suit and his chrome plated spurs. Those Zipper pilots had big brass ones.

[@JavierBrent]

Are you a good inheritor of his talents? Or another lazy fat boomer ?

[@kane357lynch]

Absolute chad.

[@danielcurtis1434]

That’s really cool you got all those mementos! My grandfather fought in WW2. I had no idea until a few years ago that my grandfather brought a P08 Luger home with him… Needless to say me and my other family members may be ready to start WW3 over the thing!!! I sure wouldn’t mind it!!!

[@Robin6512]

My dad had a total of 800 hrs on the 104. Hé loved that thing. Due to a stupid accident hé couldn’t fly anymore. Lost his flight suit. We still have his emergency belt

[@rbrtmllr]

My Uncle John Swallow took a fast exit from a 104. He past this year. I bet they knew each other.

[@erintyres3609]

Bailing out of the space shuttle could be done using a pole. According to a web site on the subject by mfwright, "A long escape pole is quickly deployed out the hatch. One by one, each crew member attaches a lanyard hook which is connected to his or her parachute harness to the escape pole and jumps out the door." It was called the crew escape system.

[@Tishers]

It was a lame attempt to come up with something that might of worked in limited situations after the Challenger explosion on launch. It would of not worked on the Challenger as the failure was catastrophic on launch nor would it of worked on the Columbia as an ejection would of been at something like Mach 20 and any escaping crew would of just been flaming meteors (some of the recovered remains were essentially that). The one Space Shuttle system that existed for the first few launches was a conventional ejection seat for the commander and pilot that would of ejected them up, through the roof. If it had been further developed it could of even worked on the mission specialists sitting behind the commander and pilot on the top deck. The mission specialists below decks... Sorry, you aren't getting out.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@Tishers He's not talking about the ejection seats, which were only active on the first two missions and removed shortly after. He's talking about the escape pole slide system that was installed after the Challenger accident. The Mission Specialists on the lower deck would've been the first ones out the hatch since it was right where they were sitting. The Commander would've been the last one to abandon his ship. This system only useful if the spacecraft were in a subsonic glide, though, so just as useless during launch and the early part of reentry.

[@davebeedon3424]

Fascinating technology, well presented. Thank you!

[@paulscanter5562]

Excellent video! Thanks!

[@DanielESmith-iz7lx]

Thanks for the short on your name. I really try to be polite when using names. Not pronouns. I really appreciate your style. Delivery is perfect. But the beauty of a small object that ties the rest of our world togeather. Priceless.

[@emiliodesalvo7024]

Martin Baker gives a tie to those that survive through the use of one of their ejection seats.

[@stinkyfungus]

The death of goose was a realistic, feasible situation. As you pointed out, there is a lanyard that interlocks the firing sequence for the seats if the canopy isn't released. But that is to prevent the seats from firing if the explosive bolts for the canopy fail to fire, or fail to fire correctly and the canopy stays in place. As the polycarbonate (not plexiglass) F14 canopy didn't have a line charge in it (like the AV8 had) to allow ejection through an intact canopy, nor do the seats have an egg tooth on them... polycarbonate is far more impact resistant than the plexiglass canopy on the A6 and other aircraft with the egg tooth designed to punch through an intact canopy. If the bolts fire correctly, there is enough kinetic energy to pull that interlock lanyard, even if the canopy isn't swept completely clear of the ejection path. The issue is, again as you pointed out - in a vertical fall, in a flat spin the separated canopy won't be blown clear by the slipstream of the airplane, and will tend to hover above the cockpit for a bit. It WILL eventually clear, but not before the seats fire (the sequence is very fast) so a special procedure involving flat spins was developed: the crew was trained to jettison the canopy first (there is a control for this, that DOES NOT initiate the full ejection sequence) and wait. Once the canopy drifts clear, the crew initiates the full ejection sequence. It appears that neither maverick nor goose release the canopy. - maverick does call out to "watch" the canopy when he tells goose to punch them out (as he says he's un able to reach the controls to do so himself) but it appears that goose fails to use the correct flat spin egress procedure. Either that... or he does jettison the canopy... but fails to "watch" the canopy and initiates the full sequence before it was safe. There was a real "Goose" who died in an ejection accident in an F14. He didn't get killed exactly the same though. Lt. David J. “Goose” Lortscher. He served in Vietnam in F4s as a RIO, and had ejected 3 times in his career, later when he transitioned to the F14, on a 4th ejection... he was killed. They named Nick Bradshaw in the movie "Goose" to pay homage to this RIO.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Awesome insight, thanks! I always love learning these deeper details from my viewers :)

[@Nghilifa]

Very true! An F-14 RIO by the name of Ward Carroll goes through this on his youtube channel as well. The procedure that you mention was included in the "boldface" (procedures which must be memorized by the aircrew) in the early 80s, because such an incident(s) did indeed happen (I'm unsure if they resulted in the death of the Pilot/RIO, but I know for sure that at least one has struck the canopy on his way out). If I remember correctly, Maverick says something like "Eject, Eject, Eject The Canopy" just before Goose initiates the ejection. I think Mr. Carroll's conclusion was that Goose simply panicked (which is understandable) and thus forgot the boldface procedures which were in effect at the time, and thus unfortunately killed himself.

[@mcroudson]

My brother, a former RAF fighter pilot (his first operational aircraft was a Spitfire) worked for Martin Baker for about 20 years or so. He was involved in the Luftwaffe Starfighter change of ejector seat to Martin Baker in order to reduce the fatalities of its pilots. I believe it made a difference. He was also one of the people early on experimenting with cartridge-powered ejection from a ground-based ramp who fractured a vertebrae. I wondered why he asked me to pick him up one Christmas. He was in a full-body cast and couldn't drive. He led a very adventurous life including a stint with the U.S. Navy Pacific fleet as an advisor representing Martin Baker. He joined the RAF in 1943 when he turned eighteen and died at age 76. He was the person I looked up to more than anyone else. Thanks for the very instructive video.

[@ryanhampson673]

I was Army EOD (Bomb squad) and during our training we had to learn how to safe the Martin Baker ejection seat. There are several pins you emplace to de activate the firing. You wouldn’t want to be recovering a pilot from wreckage and learning over them and have that thing fire off.

[@mrrenick1]

Dale Brown in his novel Chains of Command details really well the operation of the F-111 escape capsule. In particular the dual purpose of some of the cockpit equipment including the control column that becomes a bailing pump if the capsule lands in water and starts to leak.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Yes, I'd read about that in my research, though if I touched on every little detail of every single escape system the video would be three hours long :P

[@mrrenick1]

@@CanadianMacGyver Haha, so? I’d just have to clear more time on my schedule and prepare a larger supply of popcorn! Keep the videos coming mate. Thoroughly enjoying them.

[@nilo9456]

I'm no longer sure where I read a longer account, perhaps "The Right Stuff"

[@ray.shoesmith]

Worst sight in an F-111 accident report, 'un-commanded partial ejection'

[@hagerty1952]

@@CanadianMacGyver - You say that likes it's a bad thing...

[@svgalene465]

This makes me think of something mentioned in the book “The Right Stuff,” where a pilot describes using one of the early ejection seats as “committing suicide to keep from getting killed.”

[@stevetheduck1425]

When it came time for Chuck to eject from the NF-104 plane he wrecked in an ill-conceived stunt, he used an upward-ejecting seat ( possibly the Stencel, I am willing to be corrected here ), even though a downward-ejecting one would have worked at that height. He still was nearly blinded by it.

[@RCAvhstape]

@@stevetheduck1425 It was not an "ill-conceived stunt" like the movie portrays, it was a controlled mission, and he was horribly burned by the seat's rocket motors, putting him in a burn ward for many weeks of agonizing pain. Unlike the film, where he walks away from the wreck like a badass. That is a great movie, but it plays pretty loose with the facts.

[@justforever96]

More like taking a very high risk of death in lieu of certain death. Plenty of people survived elections, usually with more or less injuries as a result. And it depends on what situation you were trying to eject from. Low level or in uncontrolled flight was far more dangerous, as was high speed ejection. But used as they were designed, to bake out of a plane in level flight at cruising speed, they weren't that deadly (very uncomfortable and likely to injure you though). They didn't really plan on using them to escape in all conditions originally, it was too be used in situations where normally you would have baled out. That required you to keep the aircraft in relatively stable flight at a safe altitude and speed, otherwise it was hopeless. The ejection seat was just to make the same thing possible in the new fast jets, they didn't really think it was feasible to make all-conditions escape possible. But of course pilots tried anyway when the alternative was certain death. And so a lot of them died.

[@davidnoseworthy4540]

Okay Gilles, I am totally impressed! You covered in 22 minutes, numerous ejection system challenges and the solutions developed, from the beginning of their use to today. Very well done, thank you!

[@thatguy7085]

This was instruction… not some KZbinr looking for followers.

[@gixer1300busaboy]

David, you a plumber?

[@warrenjones744]

The fact that Martin Baker is still flying Meteors is absolutely amazing and very cool. learn something everyday. Great episode

[@markrainford1219]

I'm astonished.

[@philgiglio7922]

None of the original ME262 are still flying. Whittle designed an incredible engine. My understanding is that they are still using the original engine in the Meteor

[@ryanhampson673]

Martin bakers are still in F-16’s and a lot of US aircraft, well the company I’m sure it’s an upgraded seat.

[@AvengerII]

@@ryanhampson673 No, the F-16 and most USAF aircraft uses ACES ejection seats. It's the US Navy and US Marine Corps that prefer Martin Baker ejection seats. In some cases, when one service leads an aircraft program (such as the Navy for the F-4 Phantom II), the other service will defer on hardware choices because it's a massive bureaucratic pain to make changes in design and vendors! When you change vital hardware like engines and ejection seats, they have to re-qualify the aircraft with the new hardware before the new models can enter service. It can cost a minimum of $20million and a year or more in flight testing to do this! The later F-4 D and E- models were tailored to USAF requirements (different radar from the Navy models and the internal cannon and revised wing of the E-model). The F-4 sold well enough that the costs for hardware changes in later F-4 models were absorbed. The initial C-model the USAF bought had minimal changes from the B-model the Navy and Marine Corps began using 2 years before the F-4C entered USAF squadron service (1963); the biggest change in the F-4C that I recall reading about were larger tires for the landing gear. If the F-4 had not sold well enough and performed well in Vietnam and the Middle East, the USAF would not have gotten the changes it wanted especially in the E-model. The D-model addressed the basic lack of ground attack capability in the C-model with avionics upgrades for the D. The C-model was biased towards counter-air missions in Vietnam.

[@GutPyle]

If I had teachers like you in high school, I would have actually enjoyed being there...and paid more attention. I got straight A's, but I was bored to death because nothing seemed interesting. You inspire interest...which is what teachers are supposed to do.

[@BlastinRope]

yeah if this guy taught in my high school I would have paid way more attention in fighter jet class

[@Pwnulolumad]

You likely had more than one teacher that was as good or better than this channel’s host, you were just too young and dumb to appreciate them at the time.

[@beer1for2break3fast4]

LOL. I had a retired fighter pilot in my high school who taught Geography. He would occasionally tell us stories of his flying days. I really enjoyed his classes. @@BlastinRope

[@26betsam]

A great piece of history. When I was growing up my best friend Bernie Moore's dad was Lt.Col Vic Moore, former F-104 pilot. He shows up at our house, riding his horse and wearing his F-104 spurs as "spurs". The 1960's were a fun time.

[@alext8828]

Except for Vietnam.

[@nikolaideianov5092]

​@@alext8828good thing f104s werent used in vietnam

[@26betsam]

Actully they were, Tactical Air Command flew F 104C's for a short while.@@nikolaideianov5092

[@toddagard3664]

​@@nikolaideianov5092 The USAF did send F-104s to Vietnam

[@normmcrae1140]

In many Air Forces - (I know this is policy in the RCAF), pilots are only allowed to eject 3 times in their life. After the 3rd ejection, the pilot is either grounded or transferred to NON-fighter aircraft. This is due to spinal compression - yes it is still a concern. I knew a pilot who ejected from a CF-18, and he was markedly shorter after his ejection. He also had a couple other injuries from the event, but he recovered from those, happily. And the aircraft was recovered.

[@markrainford1219]

After three I'd begin to suspect that they actually enjoy it.

[@nightshift5201]

🤣@@markrainford1219 "You're not really here for the hunting, are you?"

[@buffewo6386]

Initial qual in the B-52: Boldface for (my position) ejection... Ejection levers: Rotate Trigger: Squeeze Instructor says... "Additional steps. Pray, Think Thin, kiss an inch of height goodby, and find a chiropractor for the rest of your life" He was a Vietnam Vet who had taken the "Silk Elevator " twice. B-52 and F-4. RIP, Cowboy.

[@phantom4E2]

F111A and B dont have that problem, whole canopy ejects

[@mikelastname]

Probably after 3 bang outs the driver has demonstrated he (she) is inclined to push the envelope a bit far so putting them on a desk is going to be best for inventory.

[@Armoredcompany]

My understanding is that if you survive your ejection with a Martin-Baker seat system they give you a plaque that has your ejection number, date, and location on it. They also do regular aircraft seats, I sat on Martin-Baker seats in UH-60Ms for about four years.

[@lib556]

Your mention of low altitude ejection brought to mind two examples from the modern RCAF. First is the CF 18 that experienced trouble just off the ground. The pilot ejected and his parachute deployed and he was saved despite practically being at ground level. Second, and more tragic, is the Snowbird Tudor crash in Kamloops that killed the team's PAO. She and the pilot ejected but the Tudor doesn't have the same ejection system that the Hornet had. The pilot hit the ground with a deployed (mostly) parachute. The PAO hit the roof of a house before the chute was able to fully deploy. Very sad.

[@LaCorvette]

I once heard, that everyone, who survives ejecting with a Martin Baker seat gets a special tie afterwards. Is that true? Very cool video; I learned something today.

[@marcusborderlands6177]

Yup, and a plaque

[@irgski]

The engineering for these ejection systems are totally awesome!

[@TimothyLipinski]

Great Video ! The best ejection seat video I saw was of the Paris Air Show ! The Russian pilot was inverted and the plane at safe crash area... The pilot ejected towards the ground and the seat made a U-turn and took him to a hi;gher altitude for his parachute to open ! T. Lipinski

[@shadmtmtn1603]

Shout out to Martin-Baker, 7 500 lives are worth a lot, in my book 👍❤ And also shout out to the other providers, since they surely saved lives as well 👍❤ Great episode on a really life-saving device ❤👍🖖

[@Lozzie74]

Martin-BAKER

[@shadmtmtn1603]

@@Lozzie74 my bad, sorry 😅🙏🖖

[@imtheonevanhalen1557]

Still blows my mind why NASA launched the shuttle without a crew backup system.....put a freakin' HUGE ballistic parachute on the crew cabin?...The people in Challenger were alive when the crew cab hit the water.

[@EdgarsLS]

That Top Gun scene actually was made after Lt. David J. “Goose” Lortscher ejection failure death. So the exact scene in Top Gun actually happened

[@retiredtom1654]

I was in the Navy in the 1960s. We had A-4 Skyhawks. One day four of our pilots were flying & enchanted very bad thunderstorm, & two pilots died. One never got out of his A-4 & the other pilot ejected but his seat hit his head (With his helmet on & Ox mask connected) causing blood from a wound to fill his mask with blood & he drowned before hitting the ground. A freak accident & the loss of a great person. Pilots know that ejecting is not a free, safe ride!

[@xray86delta]

A high school teacher that I had was a naval officer during the Vietnam war aboard a US submarine. It was an old diesel electric submarine. I was surprised, and ask him what diesel electric boats were doing during the Vietnam war, and that we even had them still. He said they did lifeguard duty, just like submarines during World War II, recovering pilots who had to eject or ditch. He told me the Grimm story of recovering a dead pilot whose legs had been lost from just above the knees following a failure of the devices mentioned in the video. That was the first time I had ever heard of those.

[@evanator166]

Interestingly diesel electric boats are still very much a thing. Most notably with the Swedish Gotland class subs being built in the 1990's and still in service.

[@stevetheduck1425]

The yankee system, or something very like it, was a contender for the Space Shuttle Crew Escape System, but, while it worked, it was as heavy as two astronauts, while the competing telescoping curved rod was lighter, and got the escapees away from the Shuttle's low-set wing. It could only be used in a small envelope on launch before max-q and before the 'abort to launching or landing site' option, and a longer window at a normal landing, and so was, I believe, not used after a lot of good publicity was generated.

[@Hurst6969]

Great video and worked on ejection seat capable aircraft for many years.... Back in the 80s was at a base were a bird strike hit the front pilot in the face. He was hurt badly but they were able to safely land the aircraft It was reported that a bird bone was lodged into the ejection system banana clip (used by rescuers to pin and safe the seat) that even had they initiated the ejection the seat had been "safed" by the bone. Crazy lucky for the crewmembers!

[@RonGreeneComedian]

A cousin in law has flown both the U-2 and SR-71. He has shared many stories, especially one about bailing during the Vietnam war. Fortunately, it was over a friendly area. Maybe I'll have time to share more.

[@Melody_Raventress]

Do.

[@snubbedpeer]

The B58 capsule you mentioned didn't have spurs but instead the pilot had loops going round his legs. Prior to closing and ejecting the capsule those loops tightened like pretensioning seat belts to keep the legs away from the capsule wall and to reduce movement.

[@pauldietrich6790]

In the book "Phantom Over Vietnam" by John Trotti, is a rather detailed sequence description of the M-B seat used in the F-4 C ( if I remember correctly ). Good read BTW...

[@ProfessorMAG]

Our aircraft in the late 70's got zero-zero seats that used a spreader gun to open the parachute at low elevations. Basically 8(?) barrels arranged in a star pattern with weights that were attached to the parachute lanyards and a charge in the middle. The canopy would literally get blown open once the pilot cleared the seat.

[@airspeedmph]

So many devices and procedures that can go wrong, only for the pilot ejection feature! I can (somewhat) imagine how mind boggling-complicated an aircraft can be. That was very interesting, I was curious what on earth can be said about a couple of spurs for 20 minutes. Curiosity satisfied and then some. BTW, did they ever used a Blackbear to test the Blackbird?

[@CanadianMacGyver]

As far as I am aware, bears were only used to test the B58 escape capsule; most other ejection seat development efforts used instrumented dummies. However, there was a 1954 program called 'Project Whoosh' (yes, really) that used chimpanzees, which were ejected from a specially-built air-launched rocket called the Cherokee. Though none of the chimps survived due to parachute malfunctions, biometric sensors revealed that they did survive the initial ejection, indicating that supersonic ejection was safer than initially assumed.

[@mikeboden9475]

The early 104A;s had a problem with the spur cable cutters which kept the seat hooked to the pilot during chute deployment (Ouch!)

[@criticalmass181]

I think you missed a very strange ejection seat. Helicopter ejection seats. Some blow off the blades. Some down, some sideward.

[@maxsdad538]

I don't remember all the specifics (I flew the slow and comfortable EC-121), but an F-4 was getting ready for a training mission out of Homestead AFB in the mid 70's, when there was an electrical short in the seat pack. The pilot managed to egress the aircraft, but before the WSO got clear of the aircraft, the rear seat ignited... they cleaned him up off the tarmac with a bottle of bleach and a sponge.

[@johnlazlo1908]

I have a B-52 Ejection seat that I restored myself that sits in my man cave. Wanted a F-4 phantom but to expensive.

[@08Barclay]

Remembering Ivan Kinchello, RIP. Low altitude ejection in an early 104,

[@Hawk_Sparrow]

if anyone is curious on the history of the full history of the ejection seat i would highly recomend Eject! Eject! as a great read

[@alancranford3398]

Brief but concise. I thought that this was just about a pair of spurs and almost ignored this. Learned a lot from this short history.

[@samrodian919]

To get a fuller insight into the history of the ejection seat through to modern day I'd recommend John Nichol's book Eject! Eject! Published by Simon and as hustler Ltd London 2023

[@VeryConfusedPerson]

An interesting design is the ejection systems on the early MiG-21s, pre the PFM model. During an ejection, the canopy is joined to the seat acts as a shield and protects the pilot. After some time it is released. They eventually gaves up on the idea because, at lower altitudes, it takes too much time for the canopy to release.

[@larryvrooman4672]

A zero-zero ejection seat isn’t a cure all and still has an ejection envelope. For example the ACES II seat in the F-16 is a zero zero seat, but at low altitude that depends on the pitch angle of the aircraft its roll angle and its descent rate. If for example, the F-16 is in a descent at 10,000 fpm at 200 kts and 300’ AGL the pilot isn’t likely to survive the ejection even if the aircraft is level. The downward vector of the aircraft is shared by the pilot and seat which then has to overcome that vector and momentum to successfully deploy the parachute before the pilot hits the ground. That can require a cool head and a lot of quick thinking as the pilot balances the pros and cons of using the remaining altitude and the aircraft’s thrust and lift to improve that vector to get the pilot back into at least the ragged edge of the envelope. At 450 kts in a 10,000 fpm decent and a 60 degree nose down pitch attitude the pilot needs to have a minimum of 497’ when the rocket in the seat actually fires to successfully eject with that “zero zero” ACES II ejection seat. Obviously that ejection sequence needs to initiated well above 497’.

[@IncogNito-gg6uh]

Thank you for that!

[@johncamp7679]

I remember hearing a Starfighter for the first and only time in the early 90’s. I was cruising around in my red Trans Am with the T-tops out, an air show was going on at Dobbins in Cobb County Georgia. I could not figure out what was going on, until I seen that jet. I’ll never forget it.

[@kingcosworth2643]

Glad those Meteors are still in service. I grew up with stories and books of the Mosquito. My Grandfather was in Bomber Command DFC. He was in a MKXVI high altitude bomber. All the WW2 warbirds are amazing feats of human brilliance and as many as possibe deserve to still be operating. And every one that still flies brought some young man back to his family.

[@johnwilliams5007]

The Gemini spacecraft also had ejection seat and early prototypes were equipped with a inflatable? wing that was supposed to let it glide after reentry to a runway so it could land. The first few space shuttle missions with the shuttle Columbia was also equipped with ejection seats for the commander and pilot. These were later removed. I think after the challenger disaster they had a pole that would deploy out side the crew access hatch so the astronauts could bail out that way over the ocean if they were unable to glide to a contingency runway. Great video by the way.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

I actually have an entire video on the history of spacecraft escape systems if you're interested! kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZe7ZmyJiZ6co8U

[@larryvrooman4672]

Unlike Mercury and Apollo where weight was critical and the spacecraft were designed as highly integrated designs, Gemini was designed as an operational spacecraft with equipment bays and cannon plugs that allowed for quick check out and replacement of systems. It was also designed with the intent to use an inflatable Rogallo wing to allow the space craft to be recovered on land (not necessarily a runway). This would avoid submersion in salt water and make it practical to quickly service the aircraft for a subsequent mission. However, the wing took longer to develop than planned and speed of development was an issue for Gemini as the program began after both Mercury and Apollo when it was realized that the Lunar orbit rendezvous method chosen for Apollo would require a bridge program to acquire the orbital maneuvering and docking skills required. The Gemini spacecraft itself was capable of a lunar orbital flight and it was considered as a means to do it well before the Soviets. However the Soviet space threat didn’t develop and it was then thought that a lunar orbital flight by Gemini would bring into question the need for the Apollo command module. There was also a proposed Gemini applications program that would have used variants of the Gemini spacecraft as a crew and cargo shuttle to proposed space stations. These would have utilized the equipment bay as cargo and crew quarters, with a hatch in the heat shield, a concept that was actually tested successfully. Unfortunately it was never funded in part due to the cost of the Apollo program and in part because after Apollo NASA chose the space shuttle concept. It was ultimately a poor choice as launching a spacecraft the size of a DC-9 into space as dead weight on every launch was never going to be efficient, and NASA knew from the start the advertised 2 week turnaround time between flights was never going to be achievable. In contrast an operational design like Gemini would have allowed for comparatively inexpensive space flights as the USAF had over 170 soon to be surplus Titan II boosters that could have been affordably man rated to support 170 future launches of a number of comparatively low cost reusable Gemini spacecraft. And that’s effectively what the Soviets did with their Soyuz spacecraft, the same basic spacecraft we are still hitching rides to orbit on today after the shuttles had to be retired due to excessive flight risk. The space shuttle made for great PR, but it ultimately cost us over 40 years of meaningful progress in low earth orbit.

[@philgiglio7922]

The ragallo (spelliing?) wing. NASA looked at using that to recover the Gemini spacecraft, since it was controllable. Something similar is used by some hand gliders

[@bfsix_seven_nine_three6279]

A great Video, very informative and very very interesting!!!

[@scottpitner4298]

What’s that opening music? The trumpet or brass part sounds like something I may have heard from school band days.

[@peterkler7802]

Mussorgsky - Pictures in an Exhibition: Promenade

[@chrissinclair4442]

F104 almost killed Chuck Yeager. I think his one one of three specially modified jets. The German airforce called the F104, widow maker, as it was a dangerous aircraft to fly.

[@Gorphee]

This was an awesome video... I'd suggest changing the name of the video to include something about a brief overview of how we got to the modern ejection system... Or something like that. Because as of right now, it completely misses what this video is really about. I believe more people would watch this video if it's title was changed, because I think there's a lot of people that would enjoy this mini documentary about the history of ejection seats. It's my two cents, anyways great video, really informative. 👍

[@williesnyder2899]

I somehow recall seeing a pilot ejecting off the landing strip after a horrific accident, just to get away from the resulting fire. I think the pilot managed to put the plane down more or less on its side rather then crash it into a populated area.

[@Kpar512]

What a marvelous video! I learned much (I have often thought about the dangers of ejections, and the obvious reluctance of pilots to use them) and answered many questions that I had not even thought of. Thank you!

[@doddsy2978]

Back in the day, whilst I was serving in the RAF, legend had it that Martin Baker (MB) issued any crew member that survived a MB Ejection, a gold silkworm tie pin and certificate, logging the date and time of that ejection. Now, I knew a couple of people that did eject out of RAF jets but not long enough after those ejections (You know? Postings and whatever...). So, I never had this denied or confirmed, sadly. On the Top Gun story. I'd still reckon that as part of the ejection sequence, the canopy would be separated from the A/c and the drogue in the top of the seat would be higher than the head of the occupant and therefore should, in most cases, be unceremoniously shoved outa the way. There is some power in them guns/rockets. Even if the seat is destabilised in the initial sequence, the drogue's main function is to re-affirm stability so that the main chute can deploy reliably. Well, that is my understanding. Bear in mind, I was a member of the more intelligent portion of the team, you know, the Ground Crew. We sent the Hot Shots off to do the fighting and then we went off for lunch. 🙂 Anyway, love the vids!

[@philgiglio7922]

It was called the 'silkworm club'. Any pilot that used a parachute was given the pin. Martin Baker continued the tradition for awhile: don't know if they still do so.

[@marcusborderlands6177]

​@@philgiglio7922they still do. It's prominently shown off on their website

[@Paladin1873]

One of my professors at Georgia Tech, Dr. Chambers, came to us from NASA. Before that he had been involved in the bear ejection test and told our class about it. That would have been around 1975. It's probably a mere coincidence, but the man on the left in test photo at 19:33 looks similar to Dr. Chambers.

[@afterthought3341]

whats with his shoes and pant leg cuffs?

[@swillm3ister]

Mussorgsky pictures at an exhibition, my favorite to listen to growing up in South Jersey. Love it so much. ❤😊

[@tjtreinen7381]

I've seen models of the capule ejection system, to see them in action is quite amazing, along with the other ejection systems. Thanks again for another great video..!!!

[@my_dear_friend_]

4:41 For a person who speaks and reads English, the German word Pfeil is pronounced like 'Pfile' is written. Like the english word 'file' with a p in front of it. Or like the word 'pile' with and f right after the p. Not like 'Pfeel' the way you pronounced it.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

I'm actually currently learning German, so I realize this now :P. Thanks for the correction. On a semi-related note, one of my favourite German words is "pfeilstorch", which refers to Storks discovered in the 19th Century who had been struck by arrows but survived. Anthropologists identified the arrows as belonging to particular African tribes, thus proving for the first time that Storks migrate to Africa during the winter!

[@my_dear_friend_]

@@CanadianMacGyver - Interesting!

[@PixelSchnitzel]

Got what I was interested in within the first few seconds. But you kept sharing interesting & relevant info. I just spent the last 22:23 riveted to KZbin. Fantastic presentation!

[@MRptwrench]

I learned things I didn't know I didn't know. Questions I never even thought of were answered. That's the sign of a great lesson and an excellent communicator.

[@nigelgunn322]

The F-104 in Britain was known as the flying coffin.

[@ryelor123]

Ah, the F-104. The one plane that guaranteed that every man who flew it got to experience ejection at least once.

[@JackNiles-hc8yz]

Not really.

[@TrainmanDan]

The CF-100 was killing aircrew because above 90 knots the second seater couldn't grab the over head ejection handle. They had to install a windshield behind the pilot's seat and also added side ejection handles.

[@cheatoracingteam]

I was blessed to have flown backseat in a TF104G in the mid 80s, sadly I don’t remember wearing the spurs…when that J79’s AB lit it was impressive! Such a beautiful airplane, but a bit of a pain to work on. I also flew many times in two versions of seats in a very early B52, and also the downward one in the bombardier crew position…ah the good old days…I think my butt just might still hurt a bit from the very skimpy seat pad that sat on top of the B52 seat’s survival kit 😎 Nice video, thanks!

[@MrJest2]

Most terrifying instance I had in the USAF was in a B52 RN seat, while on the ground. Performing a system check, my coat (Northern Tier, so we always had one coat or another on when boarding the aircraft) sleeve snagged the ejection handle... and the "ankle claws" came out and grabbed my feet. I thought I was going to be rocketed 10' down into the asphalt of the flight line... but the safety pins did their job and kept the charge from going off. But I had to take a moment to settle down... 😋

[@cheatoracingteam]

@@MrJest2 yikes

[@Buck1954]

A mysterious subject to many of us civilians. Great report.

[@robstirling3173]

I didn't hear you mention the Martin Baker 'Batman' seat, which had a pair of canopy penetrating 'ears' and also retractor cords for elbows knees and ankles.

[@alessandrapirelli7040]

This was splendidly done. The photographs, videos, factual information, intriguing anecdotes, all superbly narrated!

[@sirclarkmarz]

I was a PR in the Navy I packed hundreds of those drogue chutes you would have to pound on it with a rubber mallet to make it fit into the container that's what it said in the manual to do.

[@CanadianMacGyver]

That's kind of frightening. Overpacking parachutes is one of the factors that led to the Soyuz 1 disaster in 1967. The parachute canisters were too small, but since the Soviet leadership was pushing for the launch to occur ASAP, the technicians just stuffed the parachutes in with mallets. They failed to deploy following reentry, causing the capsule to slam into the ground at terminal velocity.

[@dukeford8893]

10:55. No, 21 USAF pilots did not die ejecting out of the F-104 in the first year of operations. I'm not sure where that canard comes from, since USAF Starfighter losses were well-documented. From the first XF-104 loss in 1955 to the end of 1959, they lost 27 F-104's that used the downward-firing C1 seat. There were 17 downward ejections; 11 were successful, 6 were not (the other 10 losses were runway excursions/CFIT/unspecified). All the downward-firing C1 seats were replaced by the end of 1959 with the C2 seat. USAF Starfighter pilots rolling the aircraft over and ejecting down, or whatever, because they were "confused" about which seat they were sitting on sounds like the same kind of nonsense.

[@MajorCaliber]

Does ANYone on the planet know why the F-104 canopy (besides being the only SIDE-opening model in the US arsenal, albeit common in Euro brands) opens from the RIGHT side, when EVERY other side-opening fighter canopy on Earth opens on the LEFT side????? 🤔🤨

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

F-104 Starfighter: I am generally attracted to more _'utilitarian aircraft designs',_ but THAT is a BEAUTIFUL AIRPLANE. BTW, my science fiction side keeps causing me to mislabel this aircraft a _"Starfury,"_ from the scifi TV show *BABYLON 5.*

[@TimothyLipinski]

Great Comment ! The F-104 had its stubby wings removed and given some long wings and a name change to the U-2 ! T. Lipinski P.S. One pilot ejected from the U-2 and made some headlines...

[@stevetheduck1425]

Best look up the family of Hawker designs from the 1930s to the 1950s. A wide range of planes all adapted from one very successful design Hind, Hart, Demon, Hector and many others, including a Royal Navy Nimrod and an RAF 'Fury'. Then the Speed Fury, then several fighters famous from the second world war, like Hurricane, Typhoon, Tornado, Tempest and 'Fury' again, 'Sea Fury', the Hawk, Sea Hawk, several prototype jets and the Hawker Hunter. Early in Babylon 5, a display of three RAF fighter models can be seen on a wall: this is British joke on a popular design of three birds as a wall-decoration ( also spoofed by a 'My Goodness, My Guinness' beer advert ), it's also of a Spitfire, not the 'Fury', 'Sea Fury' and 'StarFury' which would have completed the joke satisfactorily.

[@philgiglio7922]

​@@stevetheduck1425...NASA went to Joe and asked if they could use the design for future tugs. Joe told them, "sure, but you have to name it Starfury".

[@LanceRomanceF4E]

The Turks were still flying F-104s in the early 90’s when I was in the Incirlik AB control tower…watch two jets take off at night carrying live MK-84 bombs to drop on Kurds inside Turkish border near Syria - the same people we were there to protect from Iraqis. Anyway, after a couple of hours only one Turkish airplane returned and when asked about his wingman, flight lead calmly replied “gone, crashed.” No rescue effort was launched. The F-104 was not a good night bomber in mountainous terrain 😂. Gone crashed became the answer to any random question in my fighter squadron for years. “Hey, where’s the commander?” Gone crashed. “Did you see where I hit my golf ball?” gone crashed.

[@kimmoj2570]

Zvedza K-36 seats are better than anything made in west in extremes of ejecting envelope. No wonder why best ejection seats are Soviet/Russian. Just look their Air Force and Air Defence Force (these are 2 totally separate arms of military) record in maintenance of their aircraft.

[@illitero]

_A _*_Dude That's Weirdly In Love With An Old Saab He Used To Drive_*_ Has Appeared!_ _He uses _*_Blanket Statement Of Adulation!_* "One of the first military aircraft to have ejection technology was a Saab? Of course it was

[@Mishn0]

One more addition to the pilot has left the chat story is the method that crew of Douglas's A3D/A-3 Skywarrior and F3D/F-10 Skyknight were supposed to try. They had a hatch in the cockpit that led into a chute that they were to slide down and out a hatch in the bottom of the aircraft. Not ideal for low-level escape, but I guess they figured these weren't high performance fighters.

[@mazdarx7887]

No F104 pilots intentionally rolled the craft and ejected themselves into the ground. There were many out-of-envelope ejections, but no "muscle memory ejections". I worked(fitter) on 104's in Germany with the CAF

[@54BiZZuRKS]

I’m sorry… So to fly the plane first you have to kick it in the balls… So that the plane can eject you later. Later as in Once your foot disengages its balls? Because you kicked it so hard your foot got stuck to it balls? I mean, I can’t judge I once paid a girl in Ohio 200 bucks to do the same exact thing…. Though that time she got “EJECTED“ almost immediately.

[@JimTheZombieHunter]

My wife will never let me outlive the 2022 Perth county fair incident with an estimated 60 foot tall demon machine that both rocked and spun .. and sometimes it was upside-down. Although the engineer in me knew that all I had to do to survive was close my eyes, count, not puke, and survive 360 seconds of hell .. to this day she laughs and laughs at the memory. You seem like a man who takes his research seriously .. Am I mistaken once reading that an ejection seat is designed for ultimate maybe-or-so survivability, rather than landing softly and waving to the crowd? Although I followed every word .. surprised that you didn't mention Yeager's erection .. Although Wolfe did tend to write about shite a wee bit fast and loose.

[@juppidisco]

It was a big scandal in Germany. The back then german Minister of defense FJ Strauss was payed by lokheed (never proven) to order the F105. It was an impressive good jet… but not for german weather conditions and not for a multirole mission.

[@Rover2430]

There are one or two inaccuracies regarding the Martin Baker Tie Cub in the comments. Membership is open to emergency ejectees only, not all ejectees leaving an aircraft using an MB seat. Emergency ejectees receive a tie, tie pin, cloth patch, a membership card and a certificate to mark their membership. They don't receive a plaque or a free watch, but are given a discount should they want to buy the appropriate Bremont model. Ejectees Bremont watches have a red barrel band, not sold to anyone else. Martin Baker seats have saved 7713 lives, as of 27th November 2023.

[@harry9392]

I love the way people describe things if it's mediocre it's Northern Irish man or Irish man . But if it is a great thing like Martin Baker ,James Baker from Co Down Suddenly becomes British

[@DSToNe19and83]

Through the windscreen, slapped in the noggin and pulled the handle… I don’t even what to call that, because it definitely ain’t a skill one could master! Lucky SOB 🍻

[@TheBurg229]

Zero zero doesn't mean you won't be injured or killed. My dad ejected from an F-16 on the ground and landed still sitting in the seat and broke his tailbone, compressed his spine, etc. He's lucky he's alive.

[@Evanstonian60201]

Small correction: A spin is not a high-g situation. If it's high-g, it's probably not a developed spin.

[@philsmith2444]

Great presentation! I have one question, though - what happens if one or both of the guillotines fails to cut the spur cables? I imagine the dangling several-hundred-pound seat would make it likely that the ‘chute would tangle or twist upon opening, plus cause the pilot to descend too fast. Would the pilot simply have to reach down and unbuckle the spurs from his boots with the weight of the seat on them, or try using his survival knife and hope he didn’t drop it?

[@mortwin6054]

more likely to rip the spur of the boot mite bust you leg thou but looking how they were fitted to the boot more likely to pull of that's the way i see it :)

[@mazdarx7887]

This guy is so full of it. Israeli bird strike ejection is BS. Which type of plane did this happen on? How can a bird strike pull the overhead ejection handles forward and down? Then again how can a bird go through the armored windscreen ?

[@TamrenStarshadow]

What's the name of the music used in the intro? It is very similar to the "Pictures" track from the Incredible Machine 3 soundtrack, though the latter was done in piano instead.

[@RussellBond-dk6dj]

My Uncle was a Starfighter pilot ,as the kids say back in the day and he still has his spurs and proudly displays the. He claims it's proof he survived that beast. It was one of the few aircraft that where more dangerous to the crew than the enemy every was. West Germany found this out by digging holes with pilots in them in random feilds and Forrest

[@jacobryant2673]

Love the video, but I'm gonna be the guy to say it because I know if you listen it'll make you look far more dashing than you already do. Get your next suit custom-sized to you. This one is just a little too big. Makes you look like a small man.

[@pascalchauvet4230]

The Heinkel He280 cannot be considered a competitor for the Me262. It flew much earlier and was dropped before the 262 even flew

[@boutrosboutrosboutrosboutros]

I was surprised to see a KZbin short video of a jet fighter pilot ejecting after a bad landing he shot up 150-200 feet in the air and came down safely with the parachute! I had no idea this would work

[@johnsebo7370]

Brings back good memories, remember tail 703 while posted to 417 Sqn at Cold Lake.

[@markrainford1219]

Don't you get a tie or something from Martin-Baker if you have ejected, to say you have joined 'the club'?

[@cbman4767]

I will point out that the aircraft behind you was a CF-104 not a F-104 because it has the Canadian Forces emblem on it.

[@feynthefallen]

When will you english speakers ever learn that in German, the v is pronounced like an f, not like a w? How hard can it be, in times of google translate with audio output?!

[@flyer2512]

Absolutly loved the video! Keep up good work! 😉

[@Dakahrii]

My step grandfather's brother was a civilian startfighter test pilot and was killed during landing.

[@drstrangelove4998]

The Germans used compressed air. And low dawn actuation. MB used cordite years later, using cordite, which caused spinal injuries. The other German name for a Starfighter, was the ‘ground nail.’

[@stevetheduck1425]

The Germans also used 20mm cannon cartridges cases to eject seats and pilots, which caused spinal injuries in a few of the few times it happened. Martin-Baker quickly reduced that effect by designing a telescoping rod with five staggered charges that accelerated the seat and pilot to a higher velocity over a longer time, avoiding most spinal injuries. It was later suggested that more than two ejections would cause a high likelihood of spinal injury in a pilot, but this was a conservative estimate, as living, non-wheelchair-bound four-ejection pilots can still become pilots or instructors on other forms of aircraft. Lockheed's corrupt practises in trying to find customers for it's F-104 design (the USAF had no use for it, and the French and RAF had superior interceptors) led to many dead German, Belgian, and other nationality pilots, yes. Lockheed also lied that the Martin-Baker seat would not fit into the F-104, even though the German rocket-launched F-104s already had them. The Germans used the M-B seats as the Lockheed supplied seats would not save the pilots of F-104s launched at those low speeds and that low.

[@philgiglio7922]

The F16 was nicknamed the 'lawn dart'.

[@bigbob1699]

I contacted a pilot via e mail about the Martin Backer seats and he claimed to have punched out FOUR times. I hope he did not have to pay for breakage.

[@CentrePeice]

Im fairly sure the reasons mentioned for pilots not wearing parachutes during WW1 is that they weren't practical. They used canister held parachutes that would either have to be attached or built into the aircraft (some tried). I can imagine where the myth of cowardice came from with the context that it was better to prepare for the fight, than how you will escape it after you are beaten. What we think of as the modern parachute wasn't really a thing until just after the war.