Throughout history, clubs typically are something to be sought after. Being a member of a club is usually a matter of prestige. However, to get into this exclusive club, you must be ejected from a plane in a Martin-Baker ejection seat, thus saving your life. The founder of the company, Sir James Martin, was invested at a very young age with assembling and inventing mechanics. Starting out selling small oil engines, Martin was approached by his friend, Captain Valentine Baker, who soon became his business partner in “Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd.” Being a trained pilot, Baker took to testing out the prototypes of planes and engines built by Martin. However, upon testing the MB-3 fighter plane--intended for the British Royal Air Force—a tragedy occurred. Immediately after taking off, the plane lost power and Baker was forced to make an emergency landing in a nearby field. Skidding across the ground, a wing of the plane caught a tree stump, combusting into flames. Captain Baker perished in the fire.
Distraught with grief over his friend, Sir James Martin shifted his primary focus to aircraft safety. Within 2 years, after being asked to do so by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, Martin designed a means of escaping a fighter aircraft by a pilot. The process would be a forced ejection with the pilot still sitting in the seat, propelled by an explosive or pressurized charge. From here, a drogue gun would fire a drogue parachute, safely easing the occupant to the ground. And thus the Martin-Baker ejection seat was born. One year later, in 1945, the system of seat ejection was tested and approved. The Royal Air Force quickly embraced this new technology, integrating it into all new fighter planes. In 1949, Jo Lancaster became the very first person forced to eject from his aircraft and live. Enthused and relieved by his success, Sir James Martin established the Martin-Baker Ejection Tie Club in 1957, connecting all the survivors who were saved with his technology. Included in this highly exclusive club were a tie, a patch, a certificate, a tie pin, and a membership card. The tie is meant to be worn so that other members may recognize each other in public by its distinguished red and white triangle symbol. This sign is typically seen on aircrafts with ejection seats onboard. Today, the club’s legacy still continues, growing in number each year, with over 7,480 current members worldwide.
Typically, not many meetings, if any are called to order in this club. This is hardly surprising, considering that many ejectees do not live in the same country. However, groups such as Belgium host their own nation’s get-togethers and such. In fact, the United States have their own annual tie club ceremony for members. Just this year, Jimmy Fallon awarded his father-in-law an exclusive Tie Club watch after discovering that he was Ejectee #228. So far, only 10 women have been inducted into this club.