Since there appears to be sparse info on the aircraft ,the `fugitive` would have had to have an idea of the fuel reqd. to reach the USA,or possibly Canada,unless he was aiming for the Azores US base.(very doubtful,unless you are a good navigator.)Distance to Newfoundland would be ~2400nm,.to nearest bit of USA~ 2900NM,and accepting a nominal 40 kt headwind average would require an aircraft with at least 60 k lbs of fuel,giving a flight time of about 12 hours . Maybe he had got this info,and previous flight plans,otherwise he was not going to get very far.Anyone have any more info..?
With regard to the Hunter returning`without stores/ammo`,it may have been that once the externals were empty,the were dropped,all the ammo was fired off,and the aircraft climbed to 40/45k.ft. for return depending how far it had gone ,etc,etc....only whoever flew it will know...or maybe someone who remembers which aircraft it was,and what is recorded in the log/auth.sheet..if they were completed ,of course...!!! or the ATC log...