Bootflap,
I had the same reaction as did the officers at a dining-in night soon after the event.
Glad I could brighten up your day. I thought I might have been rehashing a well-known story. Soon after the e-mail hit the ether I heard through friends in both the US and UK military that it was doing the rounds in those countries.
The same pilot also had another incident earlier in his career (as a junior bloggs) when his flight commander led him on an interesting nav in rather poor weather. After the two aircraft struggled through most of the day in rain, poor vis and low cloud they decided to give it away about 30 miles from home, land and call the techs to pick them up. Flight commander called said pilot and asked him what those 'doggies' were in the field to which they were approaching. Turns out they had commenced an approach to a lion park! Needless to say, another area was quickly selected and that most hackneyed phrase comes to mind - 'landed without further incident'. This incident didn't quite make a the signal list either.