Martin Baker - Ejection seat and escape system technology

Search:

The international looking glass of the period immediately before the Second World War reflected a need for fighters rather than for private aeroplanes, thus Martin decided to design a military machine utilising the simple basic structure employed and developed in the MB1. Even in these early days, to formulate a requirement and write a specification was not novel, but to translate this into an effective machine needed further effort, technical skill, resources and time. But in less than no time Martin, with his small band of workers, had produced MB2. Like its predecessor, the MB2 was constructed of steel tubing, but many detailed improvements were made which further simplified production as well as repair and maintenance.

The MB2 was powered by a special Napier Dagger III 24-cylinder H-type engine of 805 nominal bhp, but capable of operation at plus 13 lb boost to give over 1,000 h.p. for take-off, driving a fixed-pitch two-blade propeller. The undercarriage was, for simplicity, fixed and cleanly faired in two trouser-type fairings, the port one carrying the oil-cooler. Later a scheme was worked out for making the undercarriage retractable to improve performance. The fuselage lines were square cut and exceptionally clean, with almost constant depth from nose to sternpost. An unusual feature, at that time, was that the fuselage was slightly longer than the span of 34ft 6in, a feature contributing to good stability and control in the yawing plane, and which was retained in later Martin-Baker designs. The wing carried eight Browning .303 machine-guns, disposed in two groups outboard the undercarriage, which made MB2 the first British eight-gun fighter.

The clean and orderly cockpit was set well back, allowing a good view downwards behind the wing. A crash post was fitted, which automatically extended to minimise structure damage and injury to the pilot in the event of a nose-over landing. A small tapered tail-plane was mounted on the top of the fuselage well forward of the sternpost, while the fin and rudder combination was roughly triangular in side elevation. This arrangement placed most of the effective rudder area below the tail-plane, thus providing an adequate balance to the keel surface and assuring good recovery from spins. In earlier designs, there was no fin and the rudder had lacked entirely the part above the tail-plane, lateral stability being provided by the fuselage and the undercarriage trouser fairings. However, this was found to be not entirely satisfactory, and the fixed fin was later added.

It might be mentioned that around this time Martin's fertile engineering mind was considering various other ideas, both for complete aircraft and for certain components. The aircraft designs included a twin-engined 12-gun fighter and a twin-engined multi-seat transport, both featuring the finless layout of the early MB2 airframe. In the fighter design, the trailing edge of the engine nacelles provided additional vertical control surfaces, and also incorporated the patented ducting system evolved by Martin to reduce drag caused by the engine exhaust.

The MB2 was first flown by Captain Baker at Harwell on 3 August, 1938. A report in "The Aeroplane" stated that "in spite of its fixed undercarriage, the MB2 had a performance as good as that of contemporary fighters and a capacity for quick and cheap production by the simplicity of its structure and easy assembly. Repair and maintenance were also simple, and these factors might have influenced the authorities towards putting the MB2 into production when the country's fighter strength was disproportionately low."

The decision of the authorities not to go ahead with the development of this design was a bewildering disappointment and a setback of some magnitude to a company as yet youthful and largely inexperienced in these matters. At the time the decision was considered by many senior Royal Air Force officers to have been a grave error of judgement, resulting in a probable loss to the Service.

Unquestionably this prototype aircraft, with the provision of a retractable undercarriage, an improved power plant and certain other minor alterations, could have been developed into an outstandingly good aircraft in time for the Battle of Britain, where it would have been a valuable contribution to our fighter strength.

Martin-Baker MB2