BWDenver Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 (edited) Testing time… The first US live inflight ejection took place over Wright-Patterson Field on March 15th 1986. The test airplane was a modified P-61-B-5 42-39498 Black Widow, named “JACK-IN-THE-BOX”. There were several ground tests as the P-61 with a jacked up nose ejected a seat into a net, then finally the in flight test on August 17th 1946 when 1st SGT lambert ejected from the aptly named JACK-IN-THE-BOX landing in a pasture north of Osborn OH. A few days later Cpl Brickheimer ejected from the P-61 at 5,800’ and 256 Kts on august 21st 1945. In some stories on rejection R&D have Cpl Brickheimer being first, but that is in error, it would appear he was a shameless self-promoter. The P-61 was chosen probably due to the unobstructed area right behind the cockpit. The upper gun turret was removed and a rudimentary "cockpit" built with support structure for an early test seat in front of where the turret was. Can't help with colors, but if you build one, there are not a lot of folks that can say you're wrong... They added the fuselage, tail boom and vert fin and engine stripes for the test. The jack-in-the-box looks like it might be white, and the reference stripes appear to be darker. Maybe yellow? They also conducted ground and in-flight tests with F-82B 44-65171 at WPAF, Buzz code was PQ-, and at least one test from an engineless P-47D. Most of the later tests were out of T-33 & TV-2 aircraft for the AF and Navy. However, that was actually not the first US serviceman to use an ejection seat. That took place in Germany when a Sergent was in a hanger and activated the seat in an He-162. Nothing but a broken arm. And a very bruised ego… This is part of a longer thread on "Fast Jet" ejection seats in the Jet forum. But if you're wondering what to do with that P-61 in your stash.... Edited April 1 by BWDenver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lost_Erik Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Thanks for sharing. That nose art is quite humorous. 🤪 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BWDenver Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 1 hour ago, Lost_Erik said: Thanks for sharing. That nose art is quite humorous. 🤪 I'd love to see it on a model some day. It would get a lot of head scratching! Bryab Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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