Credit: U.S. Air Force
The first ejector seats were developed during the war by Heinkel. Early models were powered by compressed air and the first aircraft to be fitted with such a system was the Heinkel He 280 prototype jet fighter in 1941. One of the He 280 test pilots, Dipl.-Ing. Rudolf Schenk, flying for Argus, became the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an ejector seat on January 13, 1942. During a flight with the still engine-less V-1 towed by a Heinkel He 111 he had to leave his airplane because he could not release the towing cable due to icing of the coupling. By December 2003, Martin-Baker ejector seats had saved 7028 lives. The total figure for all types of seat is unknown but must be considerably higher.