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I would say the error is in the article you read from. Do you think the Navy had 800 jets in 1954 that it could lose?

I think it is certainly possible. The cold war was in absolute full swing. America was still employing the mass production practices that we learned during the second world war. Jet technology was born during the second world war. The early jets were dangerous (it was still a relatively new technology, and it wouldn't surprise me that there would have been many bugs to work out). In other words, I think America had the capability to mass produce an imperfect weapon that America felt was going to be needed in world war three. Better to have a fleet of mediocre jets than perfect prop planes I think was the mentality. Also, jet technology was recognized as the wave of the future. Both the Soviets and the United States had to know that whoever mastered the dangerous technology first would have the upper hand in a potential conflict.

From the article:
If the experience of other navies is any measure, the Chinese also need to realize that getting carrier operations right will involve the loss of expensive aircraft and hard-to-replace pilots. In 1954 alone, in working to master jet aviation off carriers, the U.S. Navy lost nearly eight hundred aircraft. In 1999 the Navy lost only twenty-two, but these were the most advanced aircraft flown by the world’s most experienced aviators.54

From the note:
54. Sandra I. Erwin, “Navy Aims to Curtail Aviation Mishaps Caused by Crew Error,” National Defense (October 2000), www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2000/Oct/Navy_Aims.htm.

I don't know a lot about early jet aviation, but it would appear to me like this poster has done the homework. Also, the numbers don't really seem to be out of the realm of possibility.