Which fighters did pilots feel safest in for crash landing?

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I don't know about the USA but in the UK ex military planes have to have deactivated seats. The excuse being that they can be dangerous if not maintained properly.
This always puzzled me, as ejector seats are there for a reason and I believe from a Martin Baker ad, that one in ten built are used. So how does deactivating them, make it safer for the pilot?
 
I remember someone mentioning the Hurricane being quite robust for crash landings, and I must agree it very much seems that way.

One of Marseille's kills, a Hurricane, and in remarkably good shape considdering it was shot down.
 

Actually its a real pain in the butt (no pun there) to keep them maintained and to find explosive cartridges that have not gone out of date. On older jet warbirds (T-33) the "carts" are almost impossible to get. Some were being imported from the CAF, but it's sticky importing what is basically an explosive device.


You're right Glider. Also the FAA is real leary about live ejection seats. They have a fear that someone will eject over a populated area and the seat will come down and kill someone.

If I could fly in a jet where I know the carts are good for 5 or 10 years, that's fine, but in my mind ejection is a last option, especially in the environment we operate out of.
 
WE may do aerobatics and fly mock combat, but for the most part, these aircraft are babied, especially the L-29s. When I worked for Flight Systems in Mojave CA we had 2 T-33s with live seats. As these were used on government contracts, money was no object in maintaining the seats. I've also worked with a guy who owned one privately. He had cartridges to last him 10 years. After that he said he was deactivating the seats.
 
If we're sharing crash landing pictures, here's a P-47. He doesn't look like he's had a bad time in the air, so it was probably just a mistake on landing or take off.
 

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Here's a 109 crash landing.
 

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