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View Full Version : Korea: Dick Uyehara - ejection from a B-57


2RHPZ
06-10-2005, 06:55 AM
http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0501/vet1.jpg

Then it happened. The left engine blew up. The wing was still intact, but absolutely nothing worked. On the right, the engine throttle controlling nearly 7,000 pounds of thrust was no help to the now severely tail-heavy tumbling mass of metal.

That was 46 years ago. But the experience still draws powerful emotions from Uyehara. He stumbles over words to describe the nearly 30 seconds between the explosion at 20,000 feet, and his ejection at 7,000 feet.

Although getting banged around, he kept calling “may-day.” Then Todd signaled him to eject. “I blew the canopy and went first, not knowing which way I’d get shot out.”

Uyehara was about to find out why nobody else had ever survived an ejection from a B-57.

Article (http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0501/vet.html)

Para
06-10-2005, 07:04 PM
The B57 is the American version of the British Canberra, it was designed just after WW2 and came into Service with the RAF in about 1948/9. Planes at time where not designed for ejector seats and if they where put in it was just as an after thought. The RAF is still operating Canberra's to this day and have a great safety record.