Eject!: The Complete History of U.S. Aircraft Escape Systems (Hardcover)

~ Jim Tuttle (Author) "While it is believed that the Chinese were making exhibition parachutes as early as 1100, the first recorded use of a parachute was circa 1600..." (more)
Key Phrases: encapsulated seat, crew escape module, jettisonable nose, Air Force, North American Aviation, Stanley Aviation (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From the first parachutes developed in 1797 to modern gyro-stabilized, vectorable rocket capsules capable of deployment at Mach 3 and at the edge of space, this chronology covers the complete history of aircraft escape systems used in the United States. Detailed descriptions of the technologies behind each ejection systems development and use are accompanied by photographs, diagrams, and fascinating firsthand accounts from pilots and crewmembers who have used escape systems. Jim Tuttle spent 33 years as an aerospace engineer with North American Aviation and Rockwell, working on the design of legendary aircraft like the F-86 Sabre, Apollo Command Module, and XB-70 Valkyrie.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks International (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760311854
• ISBN-13: 978-0760311851
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,440,213 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Punches out a bit early but gets you down safely, December 30, 2003

By	Aero Nut (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

I had really mixed feelings about this book. On the plus side, it provides a comprehensive general description of all the major U.S. aircraft emergency escape systems. On the minus side, there are some factual errors pertaining to the aircraft information given, typographic errors, and little information on the more technical/engineering aspects of ejection seats themselves. Each major escape system described usually includes a short history of some of the aircraft that used it. This is where I found most of the factual errors. I would have liked to see less material about the aircraft and more about the ejection systems themselves.

With that said, it is really hard to fault this book since it is one of the very few written about this somewhat obscure subject. It does deliver what is promised in the title; it presents a (general) HISTORY of U.S. aircraft escape systems. This history includes ejection seats, jettisonable noses, encapsuled seats, and ejectable crew modules. If you have any interest in ejection seats at all, then get this book!

2.0 out of 5 stars An amazing 2-star, June 9, 2009

By	Ole Bjrsvik "Ole Bjørsvik" (5172 Loddefjord, - Norway) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I received this book my expectations was sooo high. Then the author made the experience plummet sooo deep. The book contains some pictures that one hasn't other places. ...but this guy brags about have being an engineer. But there is hardly anything about interesting mechanics/physics. Not too much about general engineering, except a little in the cases about encapsulated seats and crew escape modules where the end results became spectacular. There is a lot about who piloted which plane and which grade he had, even the details of the pilots in the chase planes! futile attention to the serial numbers of the planes. Almost endless unnecessary rows of adjectives in description of every plane that is mention, of the kind that everyone reading this book knows anyway. ("Yes we all know that the B-1 is blended between its fuselage and wings; Do you plan to make this a topic too, just trying to impress us??") And the there is all these attempts to try to impress by suddenly going into an unnecessary passive grammar. Or having visited to synonym list to se if there is a multisyllable word that can replace a shorter one, just to seem "wise".
Please, someone: Rip out all the good stuff in this book, and put it into a new and better one: One with physics, general design. New stories. The Brits and Germans must have someone. Didn't the Germans eject all the time in the sixties, when they started to use the F-104 as fighter bombers? What about the French, the other Europeans, and perhaps former enemies? And didn't one of the companies Tuttle worked for make the seats for the first successful inverted ejection, near the surface and for real? Without Tuttle mentioning it at all.
But it's amuzing to browse in, and it should be a nice book for the public library later today.