I never had to do this, but the following is as careful a re-construction as I can manage. It was told to me by the late Pete Frame. He was the pilot with, I'm almost certain, Kevin Keenan and Bob Christie in the back. It took place somewhere east of Suez in 1964.
Ditching an AEW3 was regarded with some trepidation by everyone, the aircraft tended to nose down abruptly and the pilot seldom got out although the observers did. Many thought the radome was responsible for tipping the aircraft abruptly on its nose.
This was entirely possible but, as I understand it, the radome tore off immediately on contact with the water. The big oval scanner inside it was parked in the fore and aft position by the observers, reducing the tipping forward risk to the minimum possible.
The real problem was the cockpit hood. It was wonderful under normal circumstances, a huge un-interrupted Perspex dome. In fact, for the tropics there was even an overhead blind the pilot could use to keep direct sun off his bonedome. But it was hydraulically operated fore and aft.....and it was HEAVY.
With no hydraulic help available after ditching, the pilot had to pull it back under his own power, not everyone managed it in time. The weight of the Double Mamba up front would cause the aircraft to nose down fairly soon, and then head straight down.
Anyway, I forget the cause of Pete's ditching (double-engine fire warnings?), sufficient to say he was faced with it. He made a flat as possible glide onto the water with the cockpit OPEN. The aircraft did a quick nose-down and then settled, floating more or less level. Pete found himself sitting up to his chest in water, and made a rapid, euphoric exit.
He climbed onto, I think, the port wing and saw both observers were already out and inflating their dinghies. Unbelievably pleased with himself he said "Hey! I did it! I ditched a Gannet!" or something very similar and lowered himself over the leading edge of the wing into the sea.
At this point the Gannet took charge, the nose dropped abruptly and the aircraft headed down at speed. Pete struggled to get free from being jackknifed around the leading edge but was held there by the onrushing water. He said his thought was "How bloody stupid to get out and then die like this" and then resorted to pulling the toggle of his Mae West. It inflated, and pulled him up over the edge of the wing......
Meanwhile, Kevin and Bob were sitting in their dinghies wondering what had happened to Pete, who they had seen a moment before. The aircraft was gone and not a sign of him.
Like a champagne cork, Pete erupted from the sea, they swear he went up about 20 feet before falling back, tearing off his mask and gasping for air. Within a few minutes the SAR chopper had them and they were soon back aboard Centaur.
Pete was convinced that the open hood was what saved him and I'm sure he was right. We all took notice of it.
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The Footnote to this was in "B" Flight's Line Book. For those who remember the Royal Navy's Duty-Free Blue Liner cigarettes, a slight change of the wording on the package......
"427. This aircraft may be landed, given away or otherwise disposed of...."
Mike