Dating to July of 1971, this silent film shows rocket sled tests of Douglas ESCAPAC escape systems for the S-3A Viking at China Lake Naval Weapons Center. Viking was a 4-crew, twin-engine turbofan-powered jet aircraft that was used by the U.S. Navy (USN) primarily for anti-submarine warfare, as well as surface warfare and aerial refueling, electronic warfare and surface surveillance capabilities to carrier battle groups. A subsonic, all-weather, long-range, multi-mission aircraft, it served with the fleet until 2009.

The film begins with a slate indicating that the footage was shot at 400 frames per second (roughly 16x normal speed) from camera 4716. Other slates show other external camera positions.

The SA-3 Viking was equipped with forward-facing, upward-firing Douglas Escapac zero-zero ejection seats. In “group eject” mode, initiating ejection from either of the front seat ejects the entire crew in sequence, with the back seats ejecting 0.5 seconds before the front in order to provide safe separation. The aircraft’s rear seats were capable of self ejection and the ejection sequence included a pyrotechnic charge that stowed the rear keyboard trays out of the way immediately before ejection. Safe ejection required the seats to be weighted in pairs and when flying with a single crewman in the back the unoccupied seat was fitted with ballast.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com