In that case I’ll share with you this tangentially related fact from aviation history, regarding ejection mechanisms:
The Convair B-58 Hustler, a Cold War-era supersonic bomber, was designed and tested in the 50’s when ejection technology was still in its infancy. Instead of ejection seats, it ejected an entire capsule as part of the cockpit. When testing this, due to the danger involved, they didn’t want to use human test subjects, so they used what they had available to them: Gorillas.
Multiple gorillas were launched this way, and as far as I have found, all gorillas survived. The gorillas were carefully studied afterwards to assess the potential effects, and whether human testing could proceed, and while the event was certainly traumatic for the gorillas, they exhibited no injuries or symptoms thereof.
I haven’t found a good source for what happened to the gorillas afterwards, but they were most likely returned to their original research institutions and care facilities. I choose to believe that one of them lived until the turn of the millennium (not unreasonable considering the average lifespan of a gorilla in captivity). As a young gorillette, Harambe concluded that his grandpa had lost it when the old Silverback entertained the young with stories from his days of working with USAF.
I learned so much with this post
In that case I’ll share with you this tangentially related fact from aviation history, regarding ejection mechanisms:
The Convair B-58 Hustler, a Cold War-era supersonic bomber, was designed and tested in the 50’s when ejection technology was still in its infancy. Instead of ejection seats, it ejected an entire capsule as part of the cockpit. When testing this, due to the danger involved, they didn’t want to use human test subjects, so they used what they had available to them: Gorillas.
Multiple gorillas were launched this way, and as far as I have found, all gorillas survived. The gorillas were carefully studied afterwards to assess the potential effects, and whether human testing could proceed, and while the event was certainly traumatic for the gorillas, they exhibited no injuries or symptoms thereof.
I haven’t found a good source for what happened to the gorillas afterwards, but they were most likely returned to their original research institutions and care facilities. I choose to believe that one of them lived until the turn of the millennium (not unreasonable considering the average lifespan of a gorilla in captivity). As a young gorillette, Harambe concluded that his grandpa had lost it when the old Silverback entertained the young with stories from his days of working with USAF.