Why did Collins not eject his seat when his plane was about to crash?
So in the movie Dunkirk, there's this scene where a fighter plane is shot by the enemy and is about to land in the sea. Now it's shown that the pilot Collins first opens the pad to eject his seat, but then later closes it and ensures that the plane lands in water safely (risking his life there).
Now the plane was over the sea where there weren't people whose life was at stake. So why didn't he simply eject his seat? Are there some air force code of conduct in such cases?
Best Answer
Firstly, there were no ejection seats in British fighters during WWII so that would not have been an option.
In general, jumping involved, for the most part, inverting the aircraft (if you can) and falling out. (see link below)...but it was often a difficult and dangerous operation.
Secondly, parachuting into the English Channel risked almost certain death from exposure & hypothermia.
A far better option was "ditching", essentially a controlled crash, "landing" the aircraft on water. The fighters in question would often float for a few minutes being constructed mainly from wood although the weight of the engines would soon nosedive the aircraft under the surface.
See this extract from Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II: The Myths and the Facts which deals with bombers but is still highly relevant.
Nevertheless...
Most meetings with the inhospitable waters of the Channel or North Sea began on the end of a parachute....
...trembling hands then had to find the tube to blow up the life jacket...
...Those with the strength then swam towards the shore if they knew where it was, the rest just floated and waited. They had about four hours before hypothermia set in.
The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain
I'll also link in a similar Q&A which also involves landing/crashing vs. parachuting from the same movie which is highly relevant.
Pictures about "Why did Collins not eject his seat when his plane was about to crash?"
Why did Collins go down in Dunkirk?
His fuel gauge is also damaged, putting him at risk of using too much fuel and forcing him to repeatedly radio Collins to check the levels. Their next skirmish with a German bomber is more successful and they shoot it down, but Collins' plane is damaged and he must make an emergency landing in the channel.Does Collins survive Dunkirk?
Tom Hardy plays Farrier, an RAF pilot, who spends most of the movie shooting down German planes. One of his colleagues, name of Collins (Jack Lowden), is shot down, but he doesn't die. He is, however, trapped in the cockpit as the aircraft sinks into the Channel.Was the farrier captured in Dunkirk?
After Farrier saves the lives of many on the sea coast in Dunkirk, and his fuel is off, he lands smoothly in the enemy zone and puts the plane on fire and gets himself captured.How many times can a pilot eject from a plane?
How many times can one person eject in their lifetime? There's no fixed number \u2013 each individual is unique, as is the ejection that they endure.Is there a \
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