The World’s First Ejection Seat

Описание: The development of the Schleudersitz, or ejection seat, gained serious momentum at Heinkel Aircraft Works in the late 1930s. Early high-speed experimental aircraft, such as the He 176—the world’s first liquid-fuel rocket plane—initially tested the idea of ejecting the entire cockpit to save the pilot. By 1940, Heinkel refined the concept, moving to individual seat catapults and installing the first compressed-air ejection system in the He 280 jet fighter prototype. These pneumatic systems relied on heavy gas cylinders to propel the seat upward along vertical rails, offering a crucial escape option at speeds exceeding 400 miles per hour, where jumping clear could trap a pilot against the aircraft.

History was made on January 13, 1942, when German test pilot Helmut Schenk became the first person to use an ejection seat in a real emergency. During a test flight of an He 280 V1 being towed through a severe snowstorm, ice froze the control surfaces, leaving the aircraft uncontrollable. At roughly 7,875 feet, Schenk jettisoned the canopy and fired the pneumatic seat, which cleanly expelled him from the aircraft. He descended safely by parachute, proving that mechanical escape systems were not only practical—but essential—for the future of high-speed aviation.

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