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VULCAN EJECTION SEAT PROJECT
 Detail ... A - Where office chair is fixed to E/seat {front}.
B - Detail of arm rest hinges. C - Drogue gun. D - Further detail of arm rests. |
I bought this seat from the U.K. through ebay.I am a bit of a plane nut and have thought for a while that it would be cool to modify an ejection seat for everyday use.
This seat is from an Avro Vulcan bomber. This aircraft was an integral part of the U.K's nuclear deterrent back in the heady days of the cold war.
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 Detail... E - Pull handle and good job on the upholstry.
F - Detail of B-57 control column {1}. G - Detail of B-57 control column {2}. H - Office base attachment & steel base {back}. |
To mount the seat on wheels I had to have a solid base. This was made with 3mm steel and rivited to the chair {A & H}.
Next were the arm rests again from 3mm steel {D} with pvc machined hinges {B}. An unforseen problem was the depth of the seat. I had to build this up with steel box section. The control column is steel so it was welded to one of the arm rests {F & G}.
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The story of the Vulcan
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RETURN TO FLIGHT
On the 18th Oct 2007 after 14 years and at a cost of around £6,000,000 the Vulcan XH588 finally took to the air for the first time since it's long and troubled restoration. See clip below. |
EJECT OR JUMP ?!
The Vulcan was a very advanced & expensive aircraft for it's time. It could carry 21,000 lbs of conventional weapons or a variety of nuclear weapons . For all it's complexity it had a curious design/flaw . Of the six crew only the pilot & co-pilot were equipped with ejection seats! The rest of the crew had to make their way to a hatch and jump!
HEAD'S UP !!!!!
Until 1991 the Vulcan held the record for the furthest round trip bombing run ever made. Covering a distance in excess of 7600 miles to bomb the runway at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands.
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FINISHED EJECTION SEAT
 ANGLE |
 BACK |
 CO-PILOT |
This is the finished product. It took about five weeks of staying late in work and a total of about 900 euro to have every thing done.
I had originally designed a dedicated stand for this. But one evening looking at an office chair I thought 'what if ' ? It proved tricky to get the balancing right but it's perfect now. I had to make the arm rests from scratch and welded on a control column from a B-57 that I had {That's another bomber}. The upholstry worked out at about half the total cost and took over a week. I nearly copped out and settled on vinyl. But decided to do the chair justice, take the hit and get all leather. I am very happy with the result although almost everybody else thinks i'm loosing my marbles. Mick. |
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 FRONT |
