While at Carswell AFB, Texas in the early 60's I found myself in that oft-experienced dilemma of how to get the needed hours for the current month. My checkout in the B-58 was delayed because of engineering problems, so scratching around for any time was a challenge. Fortunately, a good friend of mine was a T-33 pilot. He was planning on a short cross-country flight with the back seat not scheduled by another pilot needing time. I jumped at the chance to go along when he asked if I'd be interested.
It was my one and only experience in that early jet trainer. The thing that I enjoyed about the flight, especially for a navigator usually seated in the bowels of most planes without any windows, was the glorious view from the jet's bubble canopy. So this is what it's like to see the world. It was great.
I kept the required navigator's log of the flight, plotting my position on the chart and recording course, speed and drift information as prescribed. Getting a fix on our position was pretty simple with all that visibility and full view of the world around me. I even plotted one or two radio bearings from visual omni-range stations. My job was a piece of cake.
The only bad thing about the flight, a memory that's still vivid after all these years, was the horrible discomfort of those seats. They were like sitting on boards. Oh, there was a seat cushion of sorts, but it was barely an inch thick and didn't improve comfort. Because we sat on ejection seats, the pilot's up front and mine behind him, that was the reason for no padding.
Concern about physical injury during ejection, with the seat gathering speed before a seat cushion could compress under the occupant, required the most minimal padding. The theory was that getting slapped in the butt by an accelerated seat would be more injurious than rocketing upward with the seat. Anyway, that's why those seats were so doggone uncomfortable.
I'll bet this brings back memories for T-33 pilots and passengers.