Sebastien Roblin
One of the ironies of the bitter relations between the Iran and the United States today is that half a century ago they were the closest of allies. The repressive, secular government of the shah had come to power thanks to a CIA-orchestrated coup, and was lavished with then latest American weaponry, including F-14 Tomcat fighters, AH-Cobra attack helicopters and TOW antitank missiles.
So when the CIA asked Iran if it could conduct aerial spying flights into the Soviet Union, the response was “How many bases will you need?” and “Can our pilots ride backseat?” and, even, “Can we buy spy planes from you to help out?”
That the Soviet Union did not take kindly to the U.S.-Iranian intrusion is to put it lightly. Soviet fighters lobbed missiles and spat cannon fire at the Iranian aircraft, and when that didn’t work, they even rammed one of the U.S.-Iranian recon jets.
The main purpose of “Operation Dark Gene” was to find and exploit gaps in the Soviet Union’s air-defense radar network along the Iranian border—and also to test just how those defense worked when alerted. In 1968, twelve RF-FA Tigereye reconnaissance variants of the F-5 Freedom Fighter were delivered to the Imperial Iranian Air Force. Piloted by U.S. Air Force pilots, these conducted regular spy flights across the border. Then, in 1971, Iran acquired two dozen faster and heavier RF-4C Phantom recon jets with special modifications for listening in to Soviet communications. The two-seaters would typically fly on spy missions twice a month with a mixed crew of American and Iranian personnel, the latter there for training purposes.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-irans-air-force-still-flying-american-planes-19402
