Development history of ejection seat

During World War I, countries began to equip fighter pilots with parachutes. With the increase of aircraft speed, it is more and more difficult for pilots to climb out of the cockpit and skydive. During World War II, the speed of fighter planes has increased to more than 600 kilometers per hour, and pilots have to risk being blown down by strong winds or blown to the tail of the plane when parachuting. Germany first began to study seats that can eject pilots out of the cabin.

1938, Germany tried an ejection seat powered by a rubber band, but it did not meet the practical requirements. Later, an ejection seat powered by compressed air was developed. Although equipped with German military aircraft, its performance is not satisfactory. So they developed a gunpowder-driven ejection seat. They experimented with Henkel -289 and Donnie -335 military aircraft, installed the modified anti-aircraft gun powder on the seat of the aircraft, and used the power of ammunition explosion to eject the pilot and the seat out of the cabin.

1940 carried out a ground test, and the tester successfully ejected from the ground plane into the air. Later, after the flight ejection test, it met the practical requirements and was equipped with the Air Force before the end of World War II.

After the war, the ejection seat powered by gunpowder was continuously improved, and by the 1950s, it had been widely used in jet planes. In order to solve the problem of low-altitude lifesaving, the United States, Britain and other countries successively developed rocket-propelled combined power ejection seats in the 1950s.

In 1960s, in order to protect pilots in high-altitude and high-speed flight from high speed, low temperature and lack of oxygen, the United States and the Soviet Union first developed closed and semi-closed ejection lifesaving systems on the basis of ejection seats.

In the early 1970s, the United States experimented with a flight ejection lifesaving system. When the seat leaves the plane, it becomes a controllable plane. After flying a certain distance, the man separated from the chair and landed with an umbrella. Most of the main fighters in various countries are open rocket ejection seats, and their life-saving performance can generally meet the life-saving requirements of aircraft at zero altitude and speed-1200 km/h. Due to the increasingly superior flight performance of modern fighters, the requirements for ejection seats are getting higher and higher. But what is really famous in the world is the Russian K36 ejection seat. Its performance has been proved by actual combat.

Ejection seat is not only the patent of jet fighters, but also the ka52 attack helicopter made in Russia. When the plane is destroyed or a serious mechanical accident occurs, the set small detonator can blow up the rotor with the opposite axis, and then two pilots eject in two directions to escape. Of course, only ka52 in Russia has an ejection seat.