Horner rolled the aircraft to the left, looked over his left shoulder, and saw a trail of white mist arcing out from the tail of his jet. As he wondered what could cause this, the darkening cockpit lit up with red and yellow warning lights. Much of his hydraulic systems had quit. The system needed to operate the flight controls remained, but the second flight-control system and a third system that lowered the landing gear and powered the wheel brakes registered zero hydraulic pressure. The fluid Horner and his wingman had observed was the hydraulic fluid from these systems leaking overboard.

Okay, no sweat, he thought, I have good flight controls, at least enough to fly home and land, an emergency one-shot backup system—to lower the landing gear—and a backup electric motor-driven system, for braking action. This and the drag chute (a parachute packed in the back end of the F-100 that was deployed after touchdown to slow the aircraft down and save wear and tear on tires and brakes) should permit the aircraft to stop safely on the runway. Maintenance will have to tow the jet into the parking area, and I’ll have to declare an emergency with the tower, which means extra paperwork; but what the hell, the weather’s good—rare in England—and I’m in control.

When they arrived at Hopton Radio Beacon on the East Anglia coast, Horner called the Tower at Lakenheath. “Lakenheath tower, this is Blue One at Hopton, I have an emergency. One has lost his primary flight control and utility hydraulic systems, and am bingo fuel.” Meaning: he had only fuel enough to proceed to the field and land. He then informed them he would depart the fix (that is, from the radio beacon’s location on the English coast) and fly to the field, and asked for a weather update.

The supervisor of flying (SOF ) called back with unwelcome news: a fog bank was moving in, the ground-controlled intercept radar (GCI) was not in operation, and he was fixing to close the field and go home. Because the weather was supposed to be good enough for a nonradar approach, they had shut the GCI down for periodic maintenance. Because it was England, the fog had just come up unexpectedly. He directed Horner to fly back to France and land at a suitable base; there were several possibilities.