My Flt Cdr on my first Sqn had done an exchange tour with the Navy flying Scimitars. He told the tale of a launch that went wrong and the aircraft shot off the front just as the pointy end of the ship was pointing downwards (it was a stormyish day and the front end was going up and down quite a bit). From the deck, it looked as if the aircraft flew into the top of a wave, however, it re-appeared staggering skywards accompanied by the r/t "Thank you God, I have control now"