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Sir James Martin



Sir James Martin

Sir James Martin
SIR JAMES MARTIN
Aerospace Inventor and Manufacturer
Born in Northern Ireland on September 11, 1893, James Martin was a self-educated innovator of international renown. In 1929, he founded the firm that would become the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company. During the Second World War, Martin built and designed a number of prototype aircraft and developed barrage balloon cable cutters, aircraft ammunition and gun systems, and jettisonable aircraft canopies.

In 1944, at the request of the British Air Ministry to address the problem of high-speed bailout from jet fighters, Martin created the components of the modern ejection seat: gun-cartridge ejection, automatic seat release, face blind protection from slipstream blast, and parachute and dinghy deployment. Fully adopted by the Royal Air Force in 1947, the seat system became the standard worldwide. Later improvements enabled aircrew to safely eject on take-off or landing as well as in flight. By 2004, Martin-Baker ejection seats were credited with saving over seven thousand lives.

Throughout his long career in the British aerospace industry, Sir James Martin was awarded numerous honors, including a knighthood in 1965. Martin died at his home in England on January 5, 1981.
Elected to the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 2004