'GK' I'm not familiar with the stats (I guess they are on the internet). You may find this PDF a good read.
FLYING THE NAVY’S FIRST JETS (SIERRA HOTEL) By Steven Craig Reynolds
As Told By Charles “Gil” Erb, Cdr. USN (Ret.)
CHAPTER 20 WHY MODERN AIRCRAFT CARRIERS HAVE ANGLED DECKS
"...The Grumman engineers also knew that the first jet aircraft to enter the fleet would have to be compatible with the propeller driven planes in and around the carrier. They would be in the same landing pattern with the same wind conditions and land on the same carrier deck.
The jets, just like the props, would enter the pattern heading upwind and fly by the ship’s starboard (right) side at two to three hundred feet off the deck. The four-plane division would then peel off, one at a time, to establish the landing interval, and start the downwind leg. The one-hundred-eighty-degree spot was usually marked by a destroyer, a cruiser, or at times a battleship. With wheels and flaps down, and the arresting hook extended, the descending turn to a landing was started. With forty-five degrees still to turn the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) picked up the plane and with his bright orange and yellow paddles, directed the pilot to the right altitude, the right speed, and the right alignment to make the arrested landing. With a clear deck and everything in readiness on the ship, the LSO would give the “cut” signal to the pilot. Power came off instantly, the nose dropped slightly for a quick look at the deck and to set up a rate-of-descent. The wings were leveled as the stick was pulled back to establish the proper landing attitude and cushion the landing. The airplane then hit the deck and an instant passed waiting for the hook to catch a wire. When the pilot felt the strain on his shoulder straps and the airplane came to a violent stop, he was home free. As the button was pushed to retract the hook and release the airplane from the arresting gear, the pilot added full power to get out of the landing area a make room for the next plane to land. Under the direction of a flight deck crewman, he was taxied forward, parked, and climbed out of the cockpit to make his way to the ready room for the debrief.
This, of course, was all done on what now is called a straight deck carrier. The Cougar helped show the Navy the wisdom of having an angled deck carrier. A slower plane with straight wings could make a slower approach to the landing area, cut the power, lower the nose and then flare the bird to cushion the landing impact. In the supersonic cougar our approach was at a higher speed, but we still took the cut and lowered our nose. However, the swept wing gave us no flare, hence no cushioning effect. So we hit the deck with a pretty severe impact. That bounced the plane back up in the air and into a protective barricade that kept us from floating into the planes that were parked forward.
In those days the landing surface was wood supported by a steel deck. After many of these hard landings the steel deck underneath, unknown to us, had caved in and no longer supported the wood landing deck above. This created a spring-board effect that caused the planes to bounce even higher and sometimes over the barricade and into the pack of planes parked forward. They solved the immediate problem by drilling large holes through the wood and filling the void with concrete. These were serious accidents though and ultimately led to angled deck aircraft carriers."...
& from Chapter 12 this is amusingly familiar:
CHAPTER 12 A “NUGGET’S” FIRST NEAR-FATAL CARRIER EXPERIENCE
"Gil was told that the exhilaration of the first landing aboard an aircraft carrier is equivalent to the first night of a honeymoon. It is his opinion that they are both pretty exciting but won’t go into much detail on the honeymoon. He tells it this way.
'We got to the ship and got in line to take turns making our
approach, and, hopefully, landing aboard ship. When my turn came,
I made a real good approach. The LSO gave me the “cut” signal. I
chopped the power, dropped the nose, and slammed heavily down
on the deck. The tail hook on the jet caught the heavy cable on the
carrier deck, and both me and the plane, came to an abrupt and violent
stop. After regaining my senses, I taxied forward...'"
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/afc/afc...552/pd0001.pdf (4.7Mb)