The Helpful Stacker,
Reckon you're right. There'd be a certain amount of elasticity in the barrier cables, the aircraft would be pulled back onto its #rse, which dug the tailpipe in to the soft ground (look at the wheels).
Which runway would he be on ? I only ask, because when I was there in the mid '60s, one of Marshall's pilots was bringing a Vampire in on the short (23?) runway (must have been half a gale blowing). Anyway, a chap hoeing his turnips in the adjoining field was getting hacked-off with things buzzing in over his head and chucked his hoe at the Vampire. Damn near hit it, too !
Couldn't be any relation of the eyewitness, by any chance ?
D.