Friend of mine who worked in Air Traffic at RAF Leuchars told me about a Nimrod emergency landing. The Nimrod being a maritime reconnaissance plane descended from the old Comet airliner.
The Nimrod was having problems one of which - the nose wheel would not deploy. The landing was made with all the emergency tenders racing along the runway either side of the Nimrod spraying fire suppressant foam to make a suitably slippy surface for the anticipated crash landing. But the pilot touched down on the main wheels and was able to maintain the balance until the plane was almost stopped. At which point, it nosed forward and slid a few final feet. The only damage was minor abrasion to the nose wheel doors. Gordon said the RAF always writes a comprehensive report after an incident. In this case - clearly, life in ATC at a military station does allow enough time to read reports - the total cost to the taxpayer was listed as £5 for one can of spray paint to repair the nosewheel doors.