A Concorde flew so high the US Navy scrambled F-14s to intercept it and it took a veteran pilot's quick thinking to save the day
Published on Nov 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM (UTC+4)
by Daisy Edwards
Last updated on Nov 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
A Concorde once flew so high that the US Navy scrambled F-14s to intercept it, and it took a veteran pilot’s razor-sharp instincts to save the day.
The supersonic jet was cruising over the Red Sea when military radar screens suddenly lit up with an unidentified object moving at incredible speed.
What looked like a possible threat was simply the fastest passenger plane ever built doing what it did best.
And for a few tense moments, it had the world’s most advanced fighter jets chasing a luxury airplane in a high-speed pursuit.
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Is it a bird, is it a missile? No, it’s simply Concorde
In August 1990, during Operation Desert Shield, the US Navy’s VF-32 squadron spotted a mysterious radar blip climbing at an impossible altitude.
Worried it could be a literal missile, the group launched two F-14 fighter jets to check out the mysterious speeding object.
Radar Intercept Officer David ‘Hey Joe’ Parsons was in one of the jets when he grabbed his camera for a closer look.
Through his super-zoomed-in lens, the ‘enemy aircraft’ revealed itself as the sleek, white Concorde slicing through the sky at Mach 2.
No missiles, no attacks from the enemy, just the Concorde doing what it does best: being speedy.
The US Navy scrambled F-14s to try to stop the ‘missile’
Concorde routinely flew at around 60,000 feet, far above normal patrol altitude.
The F-14s tried to gain on it but couldn’t close the gap, meaning Parsons was only able to confirm the fact that it was a Concorde visually.
Once identified, the jets stood down, leaving the supersonic speedster to continue its record-breaking flight untouched.
What started as a potential conflict ended as a salute from one engineering marvel to another.
That day proved why the Concorde still captures imaginations years after its retirement, and while it wasn’t built for war, it was fast enough to give the world’s top fighter pilots a run for their money.
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Daisy Edwards is a Content Writer at supercarblondie.com. Daisy has more than five years’ experience as a qualified journalist, having graduated with a History and Journalism degree from Goldsmiths, University of London and a dissertation in vintage electric vehicles. Daisy specializes in writing about cars, EVs, tech and luxury lifestyle. When she's not writing, she's at a country music concert or working on one of her many unfinished craft projects.
