wellsprop Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 Hi all, When were seat-pack life rafts (the yellow boxes that sit in the seat pan) first used by the FAA? Would these have been used on the Fairey Gannet? (I've only found photos of them in the AEW Gannet). Cheers Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 Bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 On 12/29/2023 at 10:52 AM, wellsprop said: Hi all, When were seat-pack life rafts (the yellow boxes that sit in the seat pan) first used by the FAA? Would these have been used on the Fairey Gannet? (I've only found photos of them in the AEW Gannet). Cheers Ben It was a standard feature on all ejection seats from the beginning so they certainly would have been used in the FAA from the introduction of the Attacker. Although not an ejection seat aircraft I would assume it would have been a feature on the Gannet seats from new as well as it was put in service around the same time period. Selwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 9 hours ago, Selwyn said: It was a standard feature on all ejection seats from the beginning so they certainly would have been used in the FAA from the introduction of the Attacker. Although not an ejection seat aircraft I would assume it would have been a feature on the Gannet seats from new as well as it was put in service around the same time period. Selwyn Thanks Selwyn. The Gannet seats are the deep pan style, as Gannet crews didn't fly with chutes (update: I'm wrong) , presumably there were seat packs in there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 (edited) I don't think the hard yellow PSPs were fitted to AS Gannets. They were fitted to AEWs because they were fitted with the pilot's underwater escape seat. Prior to the hard shell PSPs, the Navy used a leather seat pad with a green canvass or bright orange valaise underneath it on their jets. Edited February 27 by 71chally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted February 27 Share Posted February 27 (edited) 8 hours ago, wellsprop said: The Gannet seats are the deep pan style, as Gannet crews didn't fly with chutes, presumably there were seat packs in there... Gannet crews had parachutes, it was their only form of in flight escape, and these would have fitted in the seat pans. I don't know enough about aircrew clobber to know where the life raft was contained, but guessing in the seat pan aswel. Edited February 27 by 71chally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 @71chally many thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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