Martin-Baker
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|
| Private | |
| Industry | Aircraft ejection systems |
| Founded | 1934 |
| Founder |
Sir James Martin Captain Valentine Baker |
| Headquarters | Denham, Buckinghamshire, UK |
| Website | www.martin-baker.com |
Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd. is a British manufacturer of ejection seats and safety-related equipment for aviation. The company's origins were originally as an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection seats. The company's headquarters are in Higher Denham, Buckinghamshire, England with other sites in France, Italy and the United States.
Martin-Baker supplies ejection seats for 93 air forces worldwide. Martin-Baker seats have been fitted into over 200 fixed-wing and rotary types with the most recent being the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II programme.
Martin-Baker claimed in 2016 that since the first live ejection test in 1946, a total of 7,514 lives have been saved by the company's ejection seats.
Martin-Baker also manufactures what it calls "crashworthy" seats for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. As of 2012[update], over 20,000 crashworthy seats have been delivered. The Martin-Baker company continues as a family-run business, run by the two sons of the late Sir James Martin.
"Martin's Aircraft Works" was founded as an aircraft manufacturer in 1934 by (later Sir) James Martin. The factory was set up in the late 1920s, where four aircraft prototypes were designed and built - the MB1, MB2, MB3 and MB5. During the design and testing of the MB 1 aircraft, James Martin and Captain Valentine Baker started their friendship and partnership with "Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd" being established.
Martin and Baker designed an unconventional, two-seat, low-wing monoplane design in the early 1930s as the MB1. This was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy engine mounted in the fuselage behind the seats and driving a fixed pitch propeller through a shaft running horizontally between the pilot and passenger. The project was abandoned due to financial constraints, although the fuselage and engine installation had been completed. Martin-Baker also constructed an autogyro designed by Raoul Hafner. This, their first complete aircraft project, was later tested by Captain Baker at Heston Aerodrome.
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