Bombshell new details of Donald Trump's extraordinary getaway from an alleged Iranian threat on his life have been revealed for the very first time.
For more than a month, it has widely been believed the President had rushed to Britain aboard the old Air Force One presidential plane amid the threat.
Mr Trump said he was using the recognisable older blue jet for "old time's sake" to fly from a Nato summit in Turkey to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.
But it has now emerged the President was smuggled away in a catering vehicle onto a waiting third plane.
Mr Trump made a show of boarding Air Force One in Ankara for the world's cameras to see.
He then told everyone on board to lower their window shutters.
Then, he was secretly shuttled onto a nearby Air Force C-32A, an American official revealed to The Washington Post last night.
Air Force One was effectively turned into a "decoy" for any kind of Iranian attack - with the media and White House staff aboard.
When pressed on the flight change in Turkey, Mr Trump dodged questions but told reporters he was "number one on the kill list for Iran".
The President was smuggled off the 'old' Air Force One in a catering vehicle (pictured) onto a waiting third plane
|GETTY
The bait-and-switch meant Mr Trump's real location was hidden from the public - and some senior US officials - for hours.
Even when George W Bush was rushed away from a school on 9/11, he was officially taken to an "undisclosed location".
But regarding last month, the White House still insists Mr Trump was somewhere he was not.
The US official admitted a credible threat to the President involving Iran set the "deception operation" in motion.
It reveals how strongly US security officials felt about his safety leaving Turkey amid refreshed hostilities with Iran.
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The bait-and-switch meant Mr Trump's real location was hidden from the public - and some senior US officials - for hours
|GETTY
The President instead flew on 'Air Force Two', a Boeing C-32 which usually carries the Vice President, with its flight tracking data turned off
|WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/DYLAN AGBAGNI
Turkey, a key Nato ally, shares a more than 330-mile-long border with the Islamic Republic.
Several people took part in the "deception" - though some did not even realise.
A number of reporters who thought they were travelling with Mr Trump on the old Air Force One were not told that he had changed aircraft, or made aware of the extent of the threat.
The "new" Air Force One jet gifted by Qatar left Turkey first, in the early evening.
The President then waved to cameras as he stepped onto the "old" Air Force One at sunset.
Donald Trump mysteriously got back onto the 'old' Air Force One on the tarmac in Suffolk
| GETTYIn order to leave the jet unseen, he and several aides stepped onto a container for the catering vehicle, which was elevated to plane-height at a door on the opposite side to the cameras.
A few minutes later, a man in a suit got into the catering vehicle's cab.
The container then was lowered into the bed of the vehicle, which then drove to the smaller C-32A nearby.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth then "officially" boarded the C-32A using normal stairs in a bid to to make that flight look typical.
He then flew with Mr Trump to the UK - with that plane's tracking data turned off, according to independent tracker Thenewarea51.
It remains unclear how the President got back on board Air Force One in Suffolk, but was seen on TV walking down its external stairs before flying safely back to the States.