Thanks Infrequent and JC.
You must realize that I did not turn on the VCR we had ( first jet with the "home movies" for de-brief, heh heh) until I had done a few things and then had the gear down. All what I did was in the after action report for other pilots with the same problem.
I also apologize for poor R/T with tower, and I also had the private VHF with Rooster for stuff, so some radio is private and other is to the tower.
My basic point is to show how one can handle a serious problem without doing a lotta stupid things. It is called airmanship. Also did not turn on the VCR until base leg with gear down and a fair semblance of control ( 17 pounds of authority and about 15 - 16 pounds required to hold wings level according to the recorders). I then turned on the narration for last two miles in case I had to jump, and I wanted it for the accident board. Silly me.
Funny thing was using the auto-ack radar to find the C-141 who was trying to land the same time I was, heh heh. So that box with the "x" you see for a few seconds was the lock-on, and I kept looking for that sucker because the jet seemed O.K. at that time.
All is well that ends well.
It was the only time I ever came home and my wife knew that something serious had happened. You damned right. First and only time my maintenance guys let me down, and when that senior NCO showed me the missing cotter key my legs got all gimpy.
Oh well a good thing that saved a few later folks with the same problem - most mechanical failures and not maintenance.