I am currently retired from all flying, as I am now 84 years old. I was a young lieutenant, 26 years old, when I was instructing future Naval Aviators at NAS Chase Field in Beeville, Texas. I had just returned from flying off the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-43) over North Vietnam in an A-4C.

What started out as a fun, four-plane formation training flight on a perfect spring day in South Texas soon became an emergency.

I was the instructor in the back seat of a Navy TF-9J Cougar on the second flight of the day. We were the wingman of the first section leader. When the student raised the landing gear after takeoff, however, the nose wheel did not indicate that it was up. I requested that the leader inspect our aircraft, and he reported that the nose gear was still extended.

The student then reported that he had no longitudinal control. The other instructor reported that white smoke was coming from the tail of our aircraft. He said he could see through the tail and thought we would need to eject.

The proper sequence for ejection was for the rear seat to go first, followed by the front seat. I told the student that when he heard me leave the aircraft, he should eject as well.

We were approximately 4,500 feet in the air and five nautical miles north of the Naval Air Station. The ejection was quite forceful, as this was not a rocket-propelled seat but a cannon-shell system. I remember rotating backward and then feeling the shock of the parachute opening.

Thank you, Martin-Baker, for getting me safely out of that burning aircraft.

After that, it was very quiet. I looked around but didn’t see my student or the aircraft. Shortly afterward, I checked and saw my fully opened parachute. I prepared to land and realized that I was headed for a tree. When I stopped descending, I was about three feet off the ground. I released the parachute and waited to be picked up by the helicopter.

The student had a similar experience, and we were both grateful for the excellent performance of the Martin-Baker ejection seat!