NATO "Remove before flight" 1982 bypass pin

[Vark_07]

Greetings everyone !

I bought this cool "Remove before flight" dual bypass pin on a german online military surplus (for decorative purpose).
It's dated August 1982, measures approximately 32 inches, letters are painted with white stencil, and as you can see in the photo montage, the sewed label is written in english (with ASSY number).
Although it was sold as issued on Luftwaffe F-104G Starfighters, honestly I cannot find any clue or photos that could relate this particular pin to the "missile with a man in it". I'm positive it's not the one from the pitot tube, wing edges protections, canopy emergency release nor landing gear .

Considering its location (West Germany) and the informations above, I would still venture that is was used on NATO (probably US-made) aircraft or aerial weaponry during this period, but it is just a guess.

Any concrete information or wild guess is welcome, I'm trying to know more about it !
Cheers, Vark_07

[hink441]

It is for an ejection seat. The tag says “MBEU” which is “Martin-Baker Ejection Unit”.
 

I don’t know anything about the F-104 ejection seats, but hopefully it will point you in the right direction 

 

Chris

[Vark_07]

Indeed it does !! At least I have confirmation that it really came from a NATO jet aircraft of that time (which is great news for the military aviation enthusiast I am).

 

So it could, as the seller claims, have in fact belonged to a Luftwaffe F-104G, or on a more pragmatic view, whichever NATO aircraft based in West Germany in the early eighties (USAF-E, for instance - in Ramstein, Spangdahlem, etc.).

 

Many thanks Chris, that was very helpful .

[Vark_07]

After further searching, it occured to me that the GQ letter code after the MBEU part number may coincide with the Martin-Baker Mk.7, which was actually called GQ-7(A) when it equipped F-104Gs.
Now that I've dug that additional information, I'm 90% sure that the seller's allegations should be correct, and that this safety pin was indeed used in a NATO Starfighter seat in the early 80's. I'm not affirming "west german" though, for many european countries operated this plane at that time, but the odds are pretty high considering the item's location.

Thanks again for your input, Chris, it really helped unraveling the mystery !

[mohawkALSE]

Id agree, came from one of the 104 seats used by NATO countries that had MB GQ seats in them used pretty late in life. 

 

Someone has one of these seats for sale here in the US. very over priced in my opinion:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114496044797?ViewItem=&item=114496044797