Go to 2:23 or so and you'll see a clip of an A6 Intruder on the cat with a drop tank that catches fire. The pilot jettisons the canopy and it seems pretty straightforward. Here's the great story that goes along with it.
The crew hears a 'thwump' sound followed by a small explosion. The pilot (second cruise guy) looks left and sees a big fireball under the airplane, yells to the B/N (brand new nugget; maybe 30 traps in the squadron) that they're on fire and then jettisons the canopy. He pops his upper and lower koch fittings and then pulls the manual jettison handle on the seat as a quick way to release the leg straps. Because the fire is on the left side, he has to go out the right side (the B/N side). As he stands up to climb out, he sees the B/N hasn't unstrapped and yells at him "Hey, we're on fire; get the fvck out." The B/N replies "I need to properly shut the system down so it won't dump next flight," to which the pilot says, as he is literally stepping on him climbing out, "fine, you and your system stay here and burn up." The B/n got the hint and climbed out many seconds later. You can see it all in the clip.
This was my second squadron tour and we were on workups in the JAX Op area. I have a color photo I'll try to scan it of the canopy in flight directly over the tail of the airplane.
Keep in mind the A6 was a Grumman Ironworks product. The jet flew the next day!
