Bailout For The Other Guys
by Phil Rowe
Much has been written over the years about ejection seats and
escape systems for pilots. But what about the other guys? How
did the navigators, radio operators, flight engineers, crew
chiefs, gunners and others get out? That's what we'll look at
here in this historical perspective.
The problem of bailing out of airplanes hasn't gotten easier
over the years. As planes flew faster and higher, the
complications increased as well. Things were much simpler back
in the early days.
In the combat airplanes of World War II, getting out for all
crew members was a matter of jumping out of the nearest hatch,
window or even the open bomb bay doors. If you had a parachute
and could struggle to an opening, you had a chance. Airspeeds
were relatively slow, few multi-place planes went faster than
350 knots.
Then came the high speed jet airplanes of the post-WWII period.
Speeds increased markedly and altitudes reached 40,000 feet and
higher. Getting out of planes in trouble became a real problem.
If you could get to an open hatch and manage to jump, you ran
the risk of being slammed against the fuselage or other part of
the plane by the wind blast. It was difficult.
Jet fighter pilots were getting ejection seats to help them
survive. Even bomber pilots found themselves sitting on similar
upward firing seats that could clear the aircraft and then
parachute them safely to ground. The story was different for the
other crew members.
Among the early airplanes with ejection capabilities for
navigators were the B-45 and B-47 medium bombers. The former, a
straight-wing 450 mile-per-hour jet, featured a sideways
ejection seat for the navigator sitting in the nose. When it was
time to bail out, the B-45 navigator left via the port-side
hatch as his seat threw him clear of the craft. Of course there
was some danger of hitting the engine pod, but when it's time to
leave, it's time to leave.
The B-47, Strategic Air Command's proud swept-wing wonder,
offered the navigator a downward ejection seat as the primary
escape. Of course that was of concern at low altitudes, but
otherwise it gave him a chance of surviving. Spare crew
members, like an Instructor Pilot or Instructor Navigator,
didn't fare quite as well. Their options included dropping down
the entry hatchway or jumping out of the navigator's hatch after
he ejected clear.
The enormous B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers came along and
didn't offer a whole lot of improvement. The upper ejection
seats for pilots and the electronic warfare officer were pretty
good, but still the two navigators faced the prospect of
ejecting downward. The low altitude bailout problems persisted.
And spare crew members were no better off. The tail gunner had
his own unique escape option. He merely severed the tail gun and
jumped aft out the resulting hole in the rear. Actually, tail
gunners had a good survival record.
Speed kept increasing. The hazards of getting clear of the
airplane and surviving the wind blasts, which could break
flailing arms and legs, grew worse. Improvements were needed.
Interim measures were taken. Some ejection seats featured
pull-down curtains to protect the head and face against the
terrific wind blasts. Restraints were added to keep arms and
legs from flailing wildly. But those measures only helped the
primary crew members who sat in ejection seats. The spare crew
or other passengers were still on their own, hoping they could
reach an open hatchway and jump to safety.
Bailing out at ever higher altitudes posed the additional
problem of enduring the extreme cold aloft and the thin air
which would not support breathing. Oxygen bottles solved the
latter problem, while delaying parachute opening until lower
altitudes were reached by free-fall helped the former.
Automatic, aneroid-operated parachute opening mechanisms were a
significant development.
Before we talk about supersonic bombers and the most advanced
aircraft, we need to consider the crew members in large tanker
and transport airplanes. Neither pilots nor other members of
those crews were provided with ejection seats, up or down.
Bailing out of many of these planes just wasn't a high priority
matter, for being comparable to jet airliners and not as likely
to suffer battle damage as bomber as fighters, they were deemed
safer. Hence, no ejection systems were added. And besides,
commercial airline passengers don't have any bailout options. Do
they?
They, the designers and decision-makers, did make minimal
provision for bailing crew members out, after a fashion. They
adopted the tried and true approaches of telling people to jump
from open hatches, doors and open aft cargo ramps. Some planes,
like the KC-135 were still considered dangerous. Those flying
gas stations, loaded with jet fuel, for themselves and planes
they were to refuel in flight, were dangerous. And getting out
was not easy.
Jet and turboprop cargo planes like C-130's, C-141's and C-5's
relied on the bailout techniques of their earlier prop-driven
ancestors. Crew members were expected to get to an available
door or hatch and simply jump clear. Not a whole lot of progress
has been made for these aviators. But then there was no
discrimination between pilots and non-pilots either.
The greatest advances in crew escape systems for both pilots and
others came with the B-58, F/FB-111 and the B-1. Supersonic
craft, all, they incorporated escape and bailout systems that
greatly improved survivability, all that is save for the B-1.
The first two craft featured fully enclosed capsules or modules
for single or grouped crew members.
The Mach 2 supersonic B-58 bomber originally came with upward
ejection seats for each of the three tandem seated crewmen.
There was no room for carrying spare crew members or passengers.
The navigator and Defensive System Operator both had the same
chance of surviving as did their pilot. But at the extreme
speeds of 1400 miles per hour at Mach 2, something was needed.
That came in the form of the Stanley Aviation capsule, a
clamshell-like enclosed ejection system. All B-58's ( though not
the two-pilot trainer versions ) were upgraded with escape
capsules.
Supersonic F\FB-111 fighter-bombers featured an escape
module to protect both of the crew members. Like the B-58,
F\FB-111's had no room for spare crew members. On ejection, the
entire cockpit unit or module separated from the fuselage and
rocketed to safety. A parachute system gently lowered the module
to earth.
The B-1 developers originally considered an escape module. It
failed qualification tests and was dropped in favor of proven
upward ejection seats, for both pilots and the two others of the
primary crew. Spare crew members were left to their own devices
in finding open hatches or doorways.
It's fair to say that many modern airplanes do provide bailout
and escape systems for non-pilots, those on the primary crew.
Spare crew and passengers are still left to fend for themselves.
On cargo and tanker aircraft, all crew members must rely on
decades-old bailout and escape methods. They must find an
opening and jump.
Of course fighter pilots and members of one and two-man crew
high performance craft are pretty well off, by comparison.
It's all a matter of trade-offs. Don't you think?