The Story of How My Dad Survived Bailing Out of a Sabre in 1957

by Ken Steacy, Canadian Comics Legend

Back in the day, flying high-performance jet aircraft was the most dangerous occupation in the world, and sadly a number of pilots paid the ultimate price. One of my dad’s squadron-mates did just that near Chatham NB during the winter of 1957; crashing into a frozen lake.

The investigation noted three holes in the ice: one apiece for the plane, the seat, and the pilot. It was believed that the pilot had been unable to extricate himself from the seat until just prior to impact.

Dad (by then a S/L) took a Sabre up shortly thereafter in an effort to understand the conditions under which that tragic event had occurred. The salient difference being that his plane had recently been retrofitted with the new, improved automatic ejection seat. After a few attempts, he found he was unable to recover from what I believe was a flat spin. He mentioned punching off the drop tanks, but not before ducking his head down in case they collided with the cockpit— imagine his dismay when he peered over the sill to see them formatting just off the wingtips!

Ultimately, it was time to go; he recalls an enormous bang, but was knocked unconscious and the next thing he remembered was shaking his head and looking up at that beautiful big silk (or was it nylon?) canopy fully deployed over his head! Happily, the new automatic ejection seat had worked perfectly, and had freed him from the seat and pulled the d-ring, just as advertised.

Coming down fast into a stand of trees, dad tried to steer towards a clearing, but when he pulled the risers the leading edge of the ‘chute folded under, and not wanting to press his luck he thought it best to land where gravity and the wind decreed. All went well, but he was lost, and decided to hunker down and wait for rescue—which took a while.

Apparently, all of the squadron’s planes had been accounted for from their sorties that day, so imagine the controller’s surprise when a farm lady called to say that she’d just witnessed a crash! She was assured that she must be mistaken, but fortunately someone must’ve gone down to the flightline and counted, coming up one plane short. Somehow, they managed to track dad down, and four hours later a ground crew got him out as the terrain was too rough for a helicopter extraction.

By then, my stalwart mom was starting to worry, and as I recall it was actually Duke Warren who came to reassure her that dad was okay. But not wanting to unduly dismay her, his opening line was something like: “How do you like my new greatcoat, Peggy?” She cut straight to the chase,

and replied: “That’s not why you’re here, Duke—what’s happened to Charles?” I’ve always maintained that it’s pilots' wives who really have the right stuff!

I can’t honestly say what the result of the investigation was, or what caused the crash. I do know that dad’s life was saved by his helmet (the impact with the back of the seat was so severe that it was cracked almost in two!) and the automatic ejection seat— thank you, Canadair!

It was five years later that Dad applied for membership in the famous Caterpillar Club, and duly received his card and pin. As he responded in a letter; “Thanx you very much for enrolling me in the Club. Should I ever again decide to bale out, I shan’t wait five years before applying for a bar to my caterpillar.”

Ken Steacy is a Canadian comics legend known for his work for NOW Comics and his collaborations with Harlan Ellison, Dean Motter, and Margaret Atwood. He was inducted into the Canadian Comic Creator Hall of Fame in 2009. He was also a member of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets 386 Comox Squadron.

Images courtesy of Ken Steacy and Wikimedia Commons.