Always Ready to Ditch this Ride
U.S. Navy Lt. F.A.W. Franke takes off in an early McDonnell F3H-2M Demon (BuNo 137003) of Fighter Squadron VF-61 “Jolly Rogers” from aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) during carrier qualifications, 10 April 1957.
U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2011.003.287.024
Of note, with the adoption of the Martin-Baker 0/0 ejection seat still a minute down the road, cats and traps at this time were done with the canopy open.
Of the staggering 265 Naval pilots that died in 1957, 172 did so following aircraft problems at low altitude/low airspeed.
Early jet operations from carriers at sea were astonishingly deadly.