The first plane to be called "Widowmaker" was the B-26 Marauder from WW II. The wings were short and tail small for speed. They added both longer wings and larger tail to improve the safety and were very successful. My dad was with them in France in 1944-45.

It was nice seeing my old ship on this video. We had some interesting experiences on the flight deck. The best and most amazing ejection to me had to be the Mic 29s. I am amazed that the one pilot is even still alive as the other plane looked like it sliced right through his cockpit.

I witnessed the last one, fantastic display up until they collided. A couple of years later I met one of the flight investigation team who investigated the crash, although nobody was hurt there was a lot of near misses. In the field where they crashed there were people lying on a haystack which got hit by burning debris and caught fire. Also there was a Hercules that got peppered by debris, the crew of that aircraft had been lying on the wings watching the display, somehow none got hit.

During my aviation career, in the Navy (ABH) and after, I saw 7 ejections in person. Way too many: 3 F-14 pilots, 1 T-2 pilot and 3 T-45 pilots. There was also an AME who ejected himself into the rafters of the hangar in Va Bch. I saw the after effects of that one and it was heartbreaking.