Yes, but only on the early USAF versions - (less grunt needed to drop pilot to safety and no tail strike to worry about) - great idea at 60k feet, but was quickly changed after a mishap or two at low level.
There was an issue with the German Air Force losing a lot of aircraft due to their poor training strategy, but generally the 'Widowmaker' safety record was no worse than many other 'hot ships' of the time...
(The Danes didn't loose one operationally apparently, due to ensuring their pilots logged 500 hours in the F5 before transitioning onto the F104)
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