The British Martin-Baker MB 5 was the ultimate development of a series of prototype

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

built during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Neither the MB 5 nor its predecessors ever entered

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, despite what test pilots described as excellent performance.

Design and development

Martin-Baker Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited is a British manufacturer of ejection seats and safety-related equipment for aviation. The company's origins were originally as an aircraft manufacturer before becoming a pioneer in the field of ejection s ...

Aircraft began the MB 5 as the second

Martin-Baker MB 3 The Martin-Baker MB 3 was a British prototype fighter aircraft, developed from Martin-Baker’s earlier private ventures, the MB 1 and the MB 2. The design was notable for its heavy armament of six 20 mm Hispano cannons. The fatal cra ...

prototype, designed to

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

Specification F.18/39 for an agile, sturdy

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

fighter, able to fly faster than 400 mph. After the first MB 3 crashed in 1942, killing Val Baker, the second prototype was delayed. A modified MB 3 with a

Rolls-Royce Griffon The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37-litre (2,240 cu in) capacity, 60-degree V-12, liquid-cooled aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited. In keeping with company convention, the Griffon was named after a bird of prey, ...

engine, rather than the

Napier Sabre The Napier Sabre is a British H-24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aero engine, designed by Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolved to become one of the most powerful inline ...

of the MB 3, was planned as the MB 4, but a full redesign was chosen instead.Baugher, Joe.
"Martin-Baker MB 5."
''Aircraft of the World'', 19 November 1995. Retrieved 9 April 2006. The redesigned aircraft, designated MB 5, used wings similar to the MB 3, but had an entirely new steel-tube fuselage. Power came from a Rolls-Royce Griffon 83 liquid-cooled V-12 engine, producing 2,340 hp (1,745 kW) and driving two three-bladed

contra-rotating propellers Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers, also referred to as CRP, coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single piston or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propell ...

.''MB 5''
Martin-Baker History. Retrieved 9 April 2006. Armament was four 20 mm Hispano cannon, mounted in the wings outboard of the widely spaced retractable

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

. A key feature of the design was ease of manufacture and maintenance: much of the structure was box-like, favouring straight lines and simple conformation. It was built under the same contract that covered the building of the MB 3.Buttler 2004, p. 31.

Flight testing

The first flight of the MB 5 prototype, serial ''R2496'', took place on 23 May 1944.Jane 1946, pp. 129–130. Performance was considered outstanding by test pilots, and the cockpit layout was praised by the

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...

(A&AEE). The accessibility of the fuselage for maintenance was excellent, thanks to a system of detachable panels. Acknowledged as one of the best aerobatic pilots in the UK, S/L

Janusz Żurakowski Janusz Żurakowski (12 September 1914 – 9 February 2004) was a Polish fighter and test pilot. At various times in his life he lived and worked in Poland, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Early life Żurakowski was born in 1914 to Polish paren ...

from the A&AEE at RAF

Boscombe Down MoD Boscombe Down ' is the home of a military aircraft testing site, on the southeastern outskirts of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The site is managed by QinetiQ, the private defence company created as part of the breakup of the Def ...

gave a spectacular display at the

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

Air Show in June 1946, with the Martin-Baker MB 5, an aircraft he considered superlative and better in many ways than the Spitfire.

If serial production had been authorised, the aircraft would have served over Germany during the Second World War. Instead, the RAF directed its attention towards jet-powered fighters. The Rolls-Royce Griffon engine failed when the MB 5 was being demonstrated to Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, the Chief of the Air Staff and a host of other VIPs at an important display of British and captured German aircraft at Farnborough.Donald 1997, pp. 150–157. Michael Bowyer states that Martin-Baker may have lacked both facilities and sufficient government support to engage in large-scale production. The company's slow progress with the machine could have been due to a lack of facilities. The original MB 5 was reputedly destroyed on a gunnery range. Martin-Baker went on to become one of the world's leading builders of

ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the aircraft pilot, pilot or other aircrew, crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an ex ...

Replica construction

A partial replica was built in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, USA by John Marlin using wings from a

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

. By April 2017 the replica had been completed and was for sale. It was built 6 ft shorter than the original, and may not be in flyable condition.

Specifications (MB 5, as designed)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Bowyer, Michael J.F. ''Interceptor Fighters for the Royal Air Force 1935–45''. Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1984. . * Buttler, Tony. ''Secret Projects: British Fighters and Bombers 1935–1950'' (British Secret Projects 3). Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. . * Brown, Captain Eric. ''Wings of the Weird & Wonderful, Volume 1''. London: Airlife, 1983. . * Donald, David. "Martin-Baker Fighters." ''Wings of Fame'', Vol. 9, 1997, Aerospace Publishing Ltd., ISSN 1361-2034. * Green, William, ed. "Mr. Martin's Memorable M.B.5." ''Air International'' Vol. 16, no. 2, February 1979. * Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Fighters, Volume Two''. London, Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1961. * Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. ''WW2 Fact Files: RAF Fighters, Part 2''. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1979. . * Jane, Fred T. "The Martin-Baker F.18/39." ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. London: Studio, 1946. . * Zuk, Bill. ''Janusz Zurakowski: Legends in the Sky.'' St. Catharine's, Ontario: Vanwell, 2004. .

External links