F-14 RIO's Quick Thinking Prevents Disaster Over a War Zone

Comments · 803

• RI

  @rippersrule · 10 months ago

  Ward, Hey Joe this is OB. I was in VF-14 during Desert Shield, in fact lived next door to Hey Joe on JFK. I was on CAP station at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba during this cycle. CAG White (an A-6 BN) was in my back seat. We got relieved on station and were heading back to land on the ship. Passing 24k in the descent with about 7K fuel we got a snap vector 350, 92 miles, angels 60, Mach 2. Turned right, went min burner and started a climb. Immediately thought this is not the threat sector for the Exocet attacks we were defending against. CAG White got a PDSTT at about 65 miles. The range was really ticking down. Almost a zero aspect intercept and with not a lot of fuel (3 1/2 minutes in zone 5) I’d figure I would do a vertical intercept to get a VID and get within a firing position. There was no TCS on this aircraft, I would have to do it by eyeball. At 40,000 I freed up the diamond and saw a dot at 25 miles. Started to pick up airframe details it was delta wing. Initially thought it was a Mirage IV, but then picked up the rectangular intakes under the wing. It’s the Concorde! I wanted CAG to broadcast something that would defuse the situation because as Hey Joe said everyone was in high PRF mode. “CAG, tell them it’s a civilian SST”. Well, that didn’t help much as there was a pregnant pause on the radio and it seemed like a giant question mark appeared over the Red Sea. “Tell’em it’s the Concorde”. Still some disbelief it seemed. Meanwhile, I am vertical at 45,000 ft watching the Concorde fly directly over my nose. Nudged the stick and flopped over out of airspeed, remember this is an A model 2/2/2 with tanks. Heard Hey Joe check in and immediately get a vector. I went back to the ship and boltered!  Embarrassing with CAG in the back seat. Anyway, this story has gotten a lot of attention lately and I thought I’d add some detail that was not known by Hey Joe.

  369

• RU

  @rupertphmode1753 · 10 months ago

  &apos;US Navy shoots down British Airways Concord over Red Sea!<br>All 120 passengers and crew on board dead.<br>US Ambassador Summoned to Downing Street.&apos;<br><br>The BBC News headlines we never saw thanks to Air Enthusiast magazine and a plane geek&apos;s extra-curricular interests. Thank you Hey Joe!

  238

• RY

  @ryukster666 · 10 months ago

  Concord-eh? Mooch showing his Canadian side 🇨🇦 😂

  162

• JG

  @jghuf5674 · 10 months ago

  The fact that this guy read that magazine article, AND had that particular camera, AND happened to be in the right place at the right time… makes you wonder if this was luck, or perhaps providence.

  80

• KE

  @keithspencer4554 · 10 months ago

  What stands out to me is how incredible Concorde was. The fact that a state of the art military jet interceptor couldn’t keep up for long and couldn’t get that high as easily is pretty amazing. Concorde just cruising at 55,000ft doing Mach 2 for a number of hours and you guys trying to keep up. Great job not shooting it down of course. Fabulous story. What an incredible plane.

  237

• MA

  @markaverett1225 · 10 months ago

  I&apos;m always impressed with how you guys keep up with each other. I think everyone that worked in the civilian world is a little jealous of the life long connections you guys have.

  108

• ER

  @erictaylor5462 · 10 months ago

  We only hear about the failures, we need to hear about stuff liker this more often. Great work, guys.

  59

• JA

  @jasons1352 · 10 months ago

  Thank you to both of you for mentioning the Stark. My father was attached as part of HSL-32. My mom was the ombudsman at the time. We didn&apos;t have Internet as we do now and all I remember is being a 9 year old kid playing in Carper Apartments and hearing my sister yelling for me. We didn&apos;t know for 3 days if he was alive. CNN did their best and so did the squadron to give information. Took my dad 30 years to finally open up about how hellish it was. Where the missile exploded was my dad&apos;s bunk. I cherish I have the melted remains. If he hadn&apos;t gone to the fantail for a cigarette, he would have been gone

  80

• RR

  @rrr7991 · 10 months ago

  FACT CHECK No doubt Hey Joe saved the day here, but the London-Bahrain route ceased in November 1980...nearly 10 years before this event. &nbsp;The jet that day was a Concorde (no accent on the e in French, therefore never pronounced &apos;Concorday&apos;) en route for a special event in Japan

  122

• MA

  @matthewnewnham-runner-writer · 10 months ago (edited)

  <i>&quot;They like to talk a lot. We stay off the radio. We&apos;re not talkin&apos;.&quot;</i> &nbsp;Love it.

  48

• GZ

  @gzk6nk · 9 months ago (edited)

  Concorde was an absolutely fabulous technical achievement. It could fly at M.2 only using afterburners on T/O then cancelled, and then to accelerate from from M 0.95 to M 1.7 through transonic drag. After that it could super cruise at up to M 2.02 in dry power for up to 4 hours at 60,000 feet. Her 100 passengers were in shirt sleeve comfort enjoying the finest wines and cuisine. I loved it!<br>But - sadly, we are highly unlikely to see its like again any time soon.<br>Times have changed. I&apos;m just so grateful it was possible for my wife and me to enjoy it. Which we did!

  3

• PA

  @paulmk2290 · 8 months ago

  I remember driving around the M25 one day, and going past Heathrow, when I was extremely alarmed to hear the almighty thunder of jet engines coming down to obliterate my car. Or, so it seemed. Much to my relief, the anticipated impact never happened, and I was able to look up to my right to see Concorde flying over. Undoubtedly the loudest plane I have ever heard.

  3