HARRY WARREN recalls the life and career of the County Down man who invented the ejector seat
On a cool, mist-wreathed morning in August 1893, in the small village of Crossgar, County Down, a boy was born who would one day help countless airmen cheat death. James Martin, the son of a prosperous but practical Ulster farmer, grew up among the gentle green hills, where life moved to the slow rhythm of the seasons. Yet his imagination raced far ahead of his surroundings.
From an early age, he seemed to possess that particularly Irish knack for looking at the ordinary and seeing the extraordinary. He was a brilliant engineer in his teenage years, creating everything from a three-wheeled car to a fish fryer, and delighting neighbours with his fearless experiments, often cobbling together ingenious contraptions from scrap metal, bicycle parts, and farm machinery, a boyhood inventiveness that hinted at his remarkable future.
Little did they know that this quiet Ulster lad would one day create one of the greatest life-saving devices in aviation history, the modern ejection seat.
After studying engineering in Belfast, Martin decided his future lay beyond Irish shores. The 1920s were the golden years of aviation pioneers, and England was at the heart of the excitement. In 1929, with the dogged determination for which Ulstermen are famed, he founded Martin’s Aircraft Works in Buckinghamshire.
It was there, in 1934, that fate brought him together with Captain Valentine Baker, a dashing test pilot with nerves of steel. A First World War veteran, Baker was already one of Britain’s most skilled aviators.
Martin, the meticulous engineer, and Baker, the fearless flyer, proved the perfect pairing, bound not only by business but by genuine friendship. They laughed easily, trusted each other’s instincts, and together formed the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, producing sleek fighter prototypes that quickly became the envy of the industry.
Their new design, the Martin-Baker MB3, was created as a top tier World War II fighter. With a steel frame and 2,000 horsepower Napier Sabre engine, it reached overspeeds of 400 mph. But on 12 September 1942, during a test flight over Hertfordshire, the engine seized.
Captain Valentine Baker, an experienced test pilot and cofounder of the company, fought desperately to keep control whilst attempting an emergency landing in a nearby field. But with little altitude and no thrust, the
MB3 stalled and crashed heavily. Baker was killed instantly on impact, the wreckage a twisted reminder of how thin the line was between innovation and disaster.
Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own
