HOW LT BADEN SAVED HIS NAVIGATOR’S LIFE
On 9 July 1991, LT Baden and his navigator LT Gallagher launched from the deck of the carrier Abraham Lincoln in a Grumman A-6 Intruder. They were over the Persian Gulf and were tasked with an aerial refueling. It was Gallagher’s birthday, and the flight would give him his 100th carrier landing once they came back.
After a clean launch, the crew checked the gauges for their external tanks and found that one of them was giving false readings. The problem had come up before and they suspected a stuck valve in the tank, so they tried to free it with gentle flight maneuvers. The pilot accelerated to 430 km/h, pulled the aircraft up and then pushed the nose back over, which produced about 0.5 negative G.
Then came a loud bang beside him, warning lights lit up and wind tore into the cockpit. He looked over to check on his navigator, but where Gallagher’s head should have been, his legs were hanging down from the cockpit roof. His eyes followed the body up into the shattered canopy. Helmet and oxygen mask had been ripped away, the face deformed by the blast of air, the body swinging back and forth. Gallagher was fighting for his life.
LT Baden cut his speed at once and called for an emergency pull-forward from the carrier, the code that gives an aircraft priority to land. He flew as slowly as he could without stalling. If he flew any slower, the aircraft could crash. Speeding up, on the other hand, would cut Gallagher’s chances of survival. An abrupt braking maneuver could also press him into the broken edges of the canopy. 
Despite the poor conditions, Baden just managed to put the aircraft down on the carrier. He got Gallagher out immediately after landing. Gallagher survived and was back on flight status six months later. LT Baden was awarded the Air Medal for his judgment under enormous stress.
A latch on the ejection seat had evidently been worn down so badly by the constant G loads that the gentle maneuvers meant to free the valve were enough to release it completely. The seat was now loose and was pushed upward by the spring mechanism of a firing rod. Because this was not an intentional ejection, the cockpit canopy had not been blown off first, so Gallagher broke through the glass with his helmet. If he had been pushed just a little further up, the second firing rod would have set off the rocket mechanism. That would have been a serious problem, because his parachute had already deployed incorrectly.
The aircraft had been in service for 28 years at that point. After this incident, every ejection seat of this type was inspected and put on a regular maintenance schedule.
The aircraft had been in service for 28 years at that point. After this incident, every ejection seat of this type was inspected and put on a regular maintenance schedule.
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