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The Angels have decided
to compete in an aeronautics show during their leave. Captain Scarlet has
gone with them to keep an eye on proceedings. He and Destiny admire an
antique aircraft - a Lancaster Bomber that flew in World War Two over 120
years ago. Unfortunately, they fail to notice Captain Black, who seems to
have come to watch the performance.
During the Angels' practice run, all the flight computers and the computers
in the Control tower suddenly stop working. The Falcons are severely
affected as they need their computers for all flight functions. Harmony's
Falcon clips Destiny's and loses an engine, causing it to spin out of
control and crash. Harmony ejects to safety, but before she even lands,
computer function is restored to the remaining four Falcons and the control
tower.
Colonel White explains back on Skybase that the two-minute blackout affected
a large area of Britain, including the airfield that the Angels were at. He
also shows Scarlet and Blue a mysterious crop circle that appeared at the
same time as the disturbance, in the exact centre of the area of the
blackout.
When they head to the surface, however, Scarlet and Blue find that the crop
circle has vanished without a trace. They land in the centre of where it
should have been in order to investigate. Before long, Scarlet starts to
feel unwell, and the crop circle reappears. The central circle drops down
into a large underground hangar where Captain Black greets them. He tells
them that the Mysterons have been causing the computer blackouts*, and that
the crop circles are caused as a by-product of the Mysteron energies, but
that they gave Spectrum something to focus on. Scarlet and Blue realise
that they had been led into this trap by the Mysterons, and Black taunts
them before delivering the Mysterons' latest threat.
THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. PEOPLE OF EARTH, YOU HAVE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS TO SURRENDER.
DISOBEY, AND WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGICAL FAILURE WILL DESTROY YOU ALL.
Scarlet and Blue are then released.
Colonel White orders an attack to take place on the Mysteron stronghold at
dawn. Scarlet insists that Black will suspect this, and that the Mysterons
will be ready for them, but White insists.
Next morning, as Destiny Angel is making her attack run, the Mysterons
employ their device again. Her Falcon loses all flight capacity again, but
the power is restored moments before she crashes. Colonel White solemnly
realises that the Mysterons can disable anything that Spectrum can throw
at them, as all of their technology and weaponry relies on digital
technology of some sort, but his musings give Scarlet an idea.

Scarlet and Blue make the next attack run themselves, using the Lancaster
Bomber, borrowed from the RAF museum. The ancient craft does not rely on
computers or digital technology of any sort, and neither do the bombs that
it carries. Black cannot use the Mysterons' powers to stop the bomber, and
the attack is successful.
* Some kind of electromagnetic
field, perhaps? As far as I know, it takes an electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
to disrupt a computer or digital processor, but I could be wrong
Quotable Scarlet
White: "Please can we have our Lancaster back? That is, if you've quite finished with it, old boy. And we
do hope you haven't pranged it."
Scarlet: "Haven't pranged it?"
White: Yes, you know, broken it, crashed it. Oh, for heaven's sake, Scarlet, don't you
understand English?
Did you spot...?
When Captain Black
triggers the power failure in the Falcons, Harmony is wearing Destiny's flight helmet.
Episode Rating: 
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