Memorabilia & smaller exhibits

Martin Baker ejector seat

The aviation pioneer Sir James Martin, a successful aircraft manufacturer (Martin-Baker Aircraft) of the 1940`s, was asked by the Air Ministry in 1944 to develop a pilot escape system . The result was the ejector seat. At the end of World War II both Germany and Sweden had systems working by compressed air and cartridge operation. By December 1944 working drawings were produced and the first test on a 16ft test rig was in January 1945.

The first human to use the test rig was Bernard Lynch, a Martin-Baker employee. Flights test began in 1945 with the first successful firing of a dummy from a Defiant aircraft.

In June 1946 a dummy was ejected from a Meteor aircraft from 2000ft at a speed of 200 mph. The first live ejection of a human (Bernard Lynch again) took place on 24 July 1946 from Chalgrove Airfield at a height of 8000 feet. at 320 miles per hour. This safe ejection from the Meteor aircraft led to the ejector seat as we know it to-day. The Mark 1 Martin-Baker ejector seat was finally approved for RAF use in 1948 and installed in the Meteor aircraft. The first emergency use of the ejector seat in the UK was in 1949 by John Lancaster chief test pilot flying the AW52 test aircraft. To-date many thousands of lives have been saved by this British invention.

It is partly because of the ejector seats that aircraft in the museum are not accessible to visitors. However, the seat on display is no longer used and has had the rockets removed so it is quite safe for you to sit in.


Flight recorders (text to follow)

 

 


Aerial cameras (text to follow)

 

 

 

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The following exhibits are part of a collection of aviation artifacts built up over many years by local aviation collector and enthusiast Mr Bill Hamblen who sadly passed away in 2003.
Bournemouth Avviation Museum would like to thank his family for the loan of these items

Approximately 24 feet long, this propeller blade was once fitted to a World War 1 German airship.

 

 

 


Junkers Jumo 211 J-1 12-cylinder Inverted-Vee piston engines each developing 1350hp.

This pair of engines were recovered from the wartime crash site of a Junkers Ju88A-4 four seat bomber / dive bomber which came down in Southmead Meadows near Ringwood at 22:40hrs on 7th May 1943.

The Ju88, coded 3E+HK, was operated by 2/KG6.
(NOTE: As displayed here these engines are effectively the wrong way up. When mounted in the aircraft the cylinder blocks would have been at the bottom).

Daimler-Benz DB601 12 cylinder Inverted-Vee piston engine producing 1050hp.

 

 

 

This engine was recovered from the wartime crash site of a Messerschmitt Bf109E single seat fighter which came down in Kent in 1940.

(NOTE: As displayed here these engines are effectively the wrong way up. When mounted in the aircraft the cylinder blocks would have been at the bottom).