Need Help For Martin-Baker Mk 2D Sea Hawk Seat

That is very helpfull. Thank you very much

And, if they are of help,:

PSP Type J, Parachute Mk 8A or 13A with a seat harness Type ZF:

Can someone give me a little hint what type of harness and parachute pack I have to look for? Those MK1, 2 and 3 type harnesses are still a bit confuding to me.
If someone would have kind of a drawing or Type xxx harness name that would fit or even be similar that would be great.
I guess I have to build one scratch somehow but at least having an idea would be great.
Thank you in advance.

As promised a few pictures of the lower handle area.

First of all, happy new year to all of you.

Terry and Bill, many thanks for the manual copies and informtation.
Corrosion wise the seat is in a pretty good condition in regards to his age. Build Date 8-7-57 seat S/N 419
the only corrion I found in a brief overview was the buttom area at the seat hight adjustment mechanis.
Bassically the area that can been seen on Terrys picture no. 3 of post #6.
Other than that just very light spots. It was stored in a dry barn for couple of years. It the oldest seat I have and ever worked on.
I’m pretty firm with the Mk4 to 10 seats but the Mk2 types are let’s say a bit different 🙂
I will take a few pictures this week of the lower handle and leg lines area.
It will be a long term project as I have a 10A and GT5 to be taken care off first.
If I can’t find any original parachute container over the time I thing I will also start making one myself. Have a old GQ Backpack type parachute which should be the same or similar material.

Thank you and best regards,

Tobias

Hi jet Driver,
Very interesting SeaHawk 2D Seat you have there. It’s also in remarkably ,very good,original condition. What is amazing to find these days is that your seat is so complete. I owned 2x 2D Seats which have now gone to other enthusiasts, the best and last seat going to Forumite :- Ian. (If you go back through:- Cockpit and Instrument Panels Projects Thread —,should be info and pics. on his seat). But his Seat was missing lots more parts than yours, but I know he is looking hard and has had some success in locating bits.

Ians seat was fitted with the lower feet supports, as have been all seats I’ve ever come across, which makes your seat the first one I personally have seen pics. of with the lower pull handle and feet supports removed. So yours has been modified. Operating systems were mostly the same on series 2 and 3 seats,noticable differences being the lower seat pans altered a-la sprung “Batwings” for the 2D seat and “dropped” seat pan for the Mk 3’s. The Mk 3 Series of seats(as far as know) were all fitted with a lower pull handle and the top pull handle. These came from the modification of the Mk 2 Seats to this effect. (I’ve 2 Mk3A Seats myself-Valiant, well stripped and one very badly corroded-but can be re-built over time). Cannot see if your seat has a crotch harness strap or not, but then again I’m not actually sure if one was fitted in those modified Mk2 and early Mk3 seats.

So all the operating bits you have on your seat are duplicated on other Mk 2 seats, which means maybe more “Spares” available. I do have a few bits around and will have a search. (Hope you aren’t in a rush) Notable missing bits on your seat appear to be the main parachute pack(as you say) and a PSP —Emergency Oxygen Bottle—Main Firing G*** With Top Firing mechanism and Sear and safety pin—Main rear bulkead Seat Guide rail. Cannot see if you have the rear G** Sear pull cable and also the Seat pan”Snubber” Units that the 2 Leg restraint lines pass through and the actual arrangement of lower pull handle and operating closed cabling link assy. (Could you post some more pics. of these areas ? )

I have a copy of the spares Schedule (Vol3 ) for the Hunter 2H Seat, which I have used for a long time now to ID bits and it has worked very well. The first bottom pull handles had a slim long “Loop” and I didn’t know till just recently that the “Wide Loop” bott Pull Handle on your seat was also fitted to the Valiant V’s in their very last years, which appears to be in early 1960’s, So how that fits in with your lower handle originality is an educated guess. I’m sure that the German Navy Seahawks would have been fitted with these,rather than the earlier “Long Loop” ones, but this post isn’t long enough for explanations. Also, I suspect that the German Navy 2D seats had fibreglass PSP’s with the Emergency Oxygen Bottle in the front of the PSP or under front of seat pan,( but jury is still out on these as don’t have concrete proof yet. So will keep researching and ask one very well informed ex-RAF seat man i know. )

Your 2D Seat must have come out of long term indoor storage or a Museum,because it looks to me like a 1960’s time capsule. The Blue Seat harness’s are correct for these early seats as are the drogue TDU pull drop arms dangling in situ. The top Drogue chutes cover “Flaps” are in remarkably good condition for something that is over 50 years old. Even the Face blind Cloth strap looks OK. These seats had 2 parachutes inside that top box:- a small 15″ one pulled out by the drogue g**billet attached to the lanyards when fired, which in turn pulls out the bigger 30 “Seat stabilizing Drogue parachute, that connects to seat top cross”Scissors” via the longer ,heavier lanyard. Your Mic Tel lead isn’t sheared off or damaged either and all the little special metal clips are there too, so your seat is a real rarity as during my searching for spares in the past I was always told that Ex-Military stuff disposed of by Armed Forces from 1960’s on was always scrapped immediately. So you have a real survivor from the German Navy SeaHawks days.

Terry P lives a few miles from me and we share info a lot. He has an MB Mk 3 Seat in his ex-Swiss Air Force Venom C/pit, that both he and I have co-opted to find correct bits for.
Some 5 years ago now, Terry faced the same problem you face now, he had no Pilots Parachute for his C/pit. Obtaining a basic para Harness from a prop driven A/c (Via evil bay) and then a correct buckle assy, next the correct para “ripcord” handles, wires,and wide strap from an Aerojumble and an empty Parachute”Pack” off a local enthusiast he sat down and re-stitched his harness to the Mk 2 Seat configuration (Using my parachute as a guide). And made up a correct Pilots parachute, identical to mine and one you need. So as these things are now Unobtanium, this is an idea for you. Oh yes!! We could not find the correct back pad that is attached so he made his own out of old linen sail material and foam inner. I’m timed out now as far as family is concerned, so I’ll find pics and stuff and post em up here again.

Best of luck with your seat restoration.

Bill T.

The last 4 pages:

Does anyone have the flying clothing schedule that should be in the annex to this chapter, or the appropriate “Aircrew List”, as its called these days, that would be in chapter 2, please?

The next 5 pages:

The Vampire T11 seats’ “Aircrew Equipment Assembly” is possibly the nearest that I have, so here are the first five pages.

14 attached. I don’t have anything for the soft furnishings that’s specific to the 2D.

Page 14 still to come. They don’t really answer your queries though. I reckon the RN and German seats were virtually the same but both types were probably modified in service to remove the footrests.

Thanks for the link.
I know both links but they don’t show my type of seat although they are very similiar.
The 2D Sea Hawk seat on the flickr link is with foot rest which I don’t have, so I think Royal Navy and deutsche Marine Version was different.

Martin Baker’s own website has some useful photos and information already 😉

http://www.martin-baker.com/products/ejection-seats/mk1-9/mk2#prettyPhoto

Also a nice detail photo here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickkparker/1785711803/sizes/l

Not Kriegsmarine, unless Hitler’s Navy operated Sea Hawks. Post WW2 it should be Deutsche Marine or simply Marine.

Kreigsmarine