Hail Hum!
As you say, happy days.
I was duty pilot in the tower at Güt for the departure of 4 X Italian 104s on one occasion. # 4 dropped back badly on take-off and they disappeared into the murk as a bit of a gaggle. Shortly afterwards, we were treated to a flypast by 3 with no sign of #4. I advised the local controller to look out for a "waz" and sure enough, he pitched up heading straight for the tower - but he had the gear down and was going really slowly.
It transpired that he had had a burner failure on take-off, followed by a hydraulic failure, followed by a radio failure! He brought it back for a v high speed, flapless landing, which he achieved nicely on the westerly runway. Unfortunately, the drag 'chute dropped out on the runway, when he selected it and his hook hung up about 2ft above the concrete, so he missed the upwind wire.
At this stage, the local assistant raised the barrier (not advised for a 104) and the top wire caught the arrestor hook as it passed over it at c 100 kts. The Starfighter came to rest just before the river Emms, in the grass, with a collapsed nose-leg and a very white Italian pilot, requesting a change of underwear!
Mog