In August 1990, the F-14 Tomcats were on round-the-clock surveillance to protect the carrier battle group based in the Red Sea, because the 1987 USS Stark event was still vivid in the memory of the US Navy. One evening in August 1990, two F-14 Tomcat crews were leaving a training exercise in Saudi Arabia, when they were alerted to go and examine an unknown fast aircraft after an Aegis cruiser stationed in the northern Red Sea detected it coming from the north. According to the radar intercept officer of one of the F-14s, I instantly locked onto an extremely fast, high-flying aircraft as we rotated our jet's nose in the direction of the flight we received. The Tomcat RIO pulled out a 300-mm photography lens from his backpack. The RIO was looking out the starboard side because the radar was giving the crew a significant lead. He claimed that we spotted a white contrail far above us. The stunning Concorde silhouette came into the picture as I turned the lens. The jet was recognized as a supersonic airliner and allowed to continue flying. It won't ever be known what a Concorde was doing above the Persian Gulf during the time of the war, but the US pilots allowed it to leave.
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