The Tigercat eventually arrived at Duxford at 21:00 on Saturday 29th of June. Up until three hours out of Prestwick the trip had been uneventful, but Mike Wright then noticed that he had no hydraulic pressure.

With nothing else to do in the next three hours he read up in the manual how to deal with the problem. The gear was pumped down by hand on arrival at Prestwick but he had no hydraulic brakes and declared a full emergency before making his approach.

He was able to make a normal touchdown, landing at 12:54, but after a 2000 feet roll he was still going way too fast. Rather than use the emergency air brakes which would have given him a big maintenance problem with bleeding air out of the hydraulic system, he shut both engines down and rolled to a halt.

Twenty minutes later he was off the runway under his own power, and looking at the problem. An hydraulic line in the starboard wheel well had fractured during the flight, pumping all the fluid out into the Atlantic. A whole bunch of Prestwick guys then came to his rescue.

With the help of the various airport services and the lads from HMS Gannet a new pipe was fitted and a supply of fresh hydraulic fluid was plugged in. By the time Mike had topped up the system it was getting dark.

At Duxford we were being kept informed of possible departure times, although they kept slipping and slipping. Eventually we got the message, Expect him in one hour forty. One hour twenty later he arrived. The taps had been opened so he could stay with the daylight. Touchdown at Duxford was made at 21:00 and the pilot and aircraft were greeted by a relieved crowd of three and a camera man.

The Fighter Collection would like to record our grateful thanks to the Prestwick Airport Services and to the gentlemen from HMS Gannet who helped Mike put the aircraft back into the air again.