re that one "You may remember the F3 that had a Mayday, 1000nm north of ASI in 1997. Just made it back to ASI as the gearbox melted en-route!"
I was one of the radar operators on the MR2 for that event - when we popped up to the long range scale to look for ships - there were none in any direction!
I seem to recall the (German?) nav doing the comms on the F3 was decidedly interested in the equipment we could drop to him and our predicted loiter time during his slowly descending transit back to ASI.... We realised how warm it was getting in the F3 when he told us he could no longer write info using his chinagraph as it had melted
Luckily the F3 held together long enough to make it (and then just clear the runway - we were holding off until he was safely landed. If the F3 couldn't taxi - it was going to be bulldozed clear!!).