Great stories Gums - just one point for you...that of going home with enough gas for a second try; a perennial argument in the Harrier, particularly when operating from the boat was whether it was better to keep ‘another go’ in the hip pocket - or would you rather have a better thrust margin and make the first go work.
I was always a ‘first go’ man myself - mainly because that’s how I was brought up - and you’ve got to land sometime, might as well be the first time! (Just my opinion having gone ‘non div’ a couple - of hundred - times!)