Fifty-six years ago this week, North American test pilot George F. Smith became the first man to survive ejection from an aircraft in supersonic flight.  Smith ejected from his F-100A Super Sabre at 777 MPH (Mach 1.05) as the crippled aircraft passed through 6,500 feet in a near-vertical dive.

On the morning of Saturday, 26 February 1955, North American Aviation (NAA) test pilot George F. Smith stopped by the company’s plant at Los Angeles International Airport to submit some test reports.  Returning to his car, he was abruptly hailed by the company dispatcher.  A brand-new F-100A Super Sabre needed to be test flown prior to its delivery to the Air Force.  Would Mr. Smith mind doing the honors?

Replying in the affirmative, Smith quickly donned a company flight suit over his street clothes, got the rest of his flight gear and pre-flighted the F-100A Super Sabre (S/N 53-1659).  After strapping into the big jet, Smith went  through the normal sequence of aircraft flight control and system checks.  While the control column did seem a bit stiff in pitch, Smith nonetheless made the determination that his steed was ready for flight.

Smith executed a full afterburner take-off to the west.  The fleet Super Sabre eagerly took to the air.  Accelerating and climbing, the aircraft was almost supersonic as it passed through 35,000 feet.  Peaking out around 37,000 feet, Smith sensed a heaviness in the flight control column.  Something wasn’t quite right.  The jet was decidely nose heavy.  Smith countered by pulling aft stick.

The Super Sabre did not respond at all to Smith’s control inputs.  Instead, it continued an uncommanded dive.  Shallow at first, the dive steepened even as the 215-lb pilot pulled back on the stick with all of his might.  But all to no avail.  The jet’s hydraulic system had failed.  As the stricken aircraft now accelerated toward the ground, Smith rightly concluded that this was going to be a short ride.

George Smith knew that he had only one alternative now.  Eject.  However, he also knew that the chances were small that he could survive what was quickly shaping-up to be a quasi-supersonic ejection.  Suddenly, over the radio, Smith heard another F-100A pilot flying in his vicinity yell: “Bail out, George!  He proceeded to do so.

Smith jettisoned his canopy.  The roar from the airstream around him was unlike anything he had ever heard.  Almost paralyzed with fear, Smith reflexively hunkered-down in the cockpit.  The exact wrong thing to do.  His head needed to be positioned up against the seat’s headrest and his feet placed within retraining stirrups prior to ejection.  But there was no time for any of this now.  Smith pulled the ejection seat trigger.

George Smith’s last recollection of his nightmare ride was that the Mach Meter read 1.05; 777 mph at the ejection altitude of 6,500 feet above the Pacific Ocean.  These flight conditions corresponded to a dynamic pressure of 1,240 pounds per square foot.  As he was fired out of the cockpit and into the harsh airstream, Smith was subjected to a drag force of around 8,000 lbs producing on the order of 40-g’s of deceleration.

Mercifully, Smith did not recall what came next.  The ferocious windblast stripped him of his helmet, oxygen mask, footwear, flight gloves, wrist watch and even his ring.  Blood was forced into his head which became grotesquely swollen and his facial features unrecognizable.  His eyelids fluttered and his eyes were tortuously mauled by the aerodynamic and inertial load of his ejection.  Smith’s internal organs, most especially his liver, were severely damaged.  His body was horribly bruised and beaten as it flailed end-over-over end uncontrollably.

Smith and his seat parted company as programmed followed by automatic deployment of his parachute.  The opening forces were so high that a third of the parachute material was ripped away.  Thankfully, the remaining portion held together and the unconscious Smith landed about 75 yards away from a fishing vessel positiond about a half-mile form shore.  Providentially, the boat’s skipper was a former Navy rescue expert.  Within a minute of hitting the water, Smith was rescued and brought onboard. 

George Smith was hovering near death when he arrived at the hospital.  In severe shock and with only a faint pulse, doctors quickly went to work.  Smith awoke on his sixth day of hospitalization.  He could hear, but he couldn’t see.  His eyes had sustained multiple subconjunctival hemorrhages and the prevailing thought at the time was that he would never see again.

Happily, George Smith did recover almost fully from his supersonic ejection experience.  He spent seven (7) months in the hospital and endured several operations.  During that time, Smith’s weight dropped to 150 lbs.  He was left with a permanently damaged liver to the extent that he could no longer drink alcohol.  As for Smith’s vision, it returned to normal.  However, his eyes were ever after somewhat glare-sensitive and slow to adapt to darkness.

Not only did George Smith return to good health, he also got back in the cockpit.  First, he was cleared to fly low and slow prop-driven aircraft.  Ultimately, he got back into jets, including the F-100A Super Sabre.  Much was learned about how to markedly improve high speed ejection survivability in the aftermath of Smith’s supersonic nightmare.  He in essence paid the price so that others would fare better in such circumstances as he endured. 

George Smith was thirty-one (31) at the time of his F-100A mishap.  He lived a happy and productive thirty-nine (39) more years after its occurrence.  Smith passed from this earthly scene in 1994.