 In 1959, while with the 77th Tactical Fighter Squadron and flying back to his base at RAF Wethersfield near London, a gas leak in Major Blanchard's F-100 Super Sabre broke and caught his plane on fire.Rather than escaping and parachuting out safely, he decided to stay with the plane and land it safely, because of a village on the ground that would have been damaged.This garnered him an Air Force commendation for bravery.