That era is abit early fro mass air travel but fast forward to early 60s and some years are really alarming for passenger travel , some years see several 707s/DC8s crash, sometimes two or more from the same airline, Pan Am had a very bad spell around them. Add the aging prop jobs to the not fully understood jets a month without a major plane crash was unusual.
I imagine its the same with RAF and other airforces that the mix of fledging jets and aging props was pretty deadly.
As scary as our figures are the USAF crew must have been a dangerous occupation back then. Throw in the additional hazards of Carrier Ops and the situation was possibly even worse for naval aviation, I believe some types like Seahawk and Sea Vixen were very deadly.
One can only image what it was like in the Russian air force where political pressures more intense and media coverage close to nil.