Chesty,
A certain Harrier pilot once melted a big figure of eight into the western end of the Airport Camp / Belize International runway during engine runs, closing it for almost 24 hours as the hole was burned right down to the base limestone (I flew over it and landed beyond shortly after).
Quite funny because it was a tuesday, which was personnel changeover day and the VC10, already en route, had to turn back to Dulles. Even funnier because I wasn't due to go home but my mate was and he really wouldn't believe me that he was staying on for a while.
Was that the episode you're thinking of?