SSP chase cars used for U-2 plane

strattoc · Jun 23, 2011

I found this and I couldnt believe it. I work on this jet right now and when I first got here we had camaros and gtos to chase it and now we primarily use G8's. When I saw this picture my I was floored, too bad I wasnt around when they decomissioned those cars, even though knowing the air force probably crushed them, thats what they do to our tool boxes, either that or they tell us that and some chief has it in his garage lol. I hope to ride in one of our chase cars while I'm deployed, in another deployed location we use
mitsubishi evo's. They reach speeds up to 140 mph to catch the jet.
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View attachment 185646

Heres a video to give you an idea of what they are doing YouTube - ‪U-2 Dragon Lady: Landings‬&rlm;

strattoc · Jun 23, 2011

more I just found, I dont know how cool you guys think this is but I'm pretty excited about this.

got these off of sspmustang.org, last pic is pretty cool because I've worked on that jet.

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NIKwoaC · Jun 23, 2011

Yea, I've read about that before. They used them to help land the planes. A pilot would drive the car and radio up to the pilot in the plane and give him information on how close they were the the ground, etc. Pretty badass.

I bet there are still a couple of them stashed in a hangar somewhere.

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jun 23, 2011

The FBI and CIA both had them too and they're pretty hard to come by.

strattoc · Jun 23, 2011

NikwoaC said:
I bet there are still a couple of them stashed in a hangar somewhere.

Hahaha, yeah they must be stashed with an SR-71, I've heard so many urban legends about that, but I've been every hangar on base except one and its where they put the T-38's..... that could be where they are at. I'm going to go to my commander and demand that they start using mustangs again, it be bad ass seeing a new 5.0 hauling butt down the flightline.

N8Dogg98 · Jun 23, 2011

Awesome pictures!

NIKwoaC · Jun 23, 2011

strattoc said:
Hahaha, yeah they must be stashed with an SR-71, I've heard so many urban legends about that, but I've been every hangar on base except one and its where they put the T-38's..... that could be where they are at. I'm going to go to my commander and demand that they start using mustangs again, it be bad ass seeing a new 5.0 hauling butt down the flightline.

Hell yea, and you know the new 5.0 is faster than that other junk!

jrichker · Jun 23, 2011

Jump in the way back time machine and take a trip with me... it's 1969 and the place is McCoy AFB, Orlando Fl.

Out on the flightline pumping several thousand gallons of AVgas into an EC-121, I get to see the resident U2 land. When it lands, the guys in the back of a SS 396 Chevy El Camino chase down the plane and put an outrigger landing wheel on each wing tip. The SS 396 Chevy El Camino was one of the fastest vehicles around that that time, and it was quite a sight to see it chase the U2 down the runway before the wingtips drooped enough to drag on the runway.

strattoc · Jun 23, 2011

jrichker said:
Jump in the way back time machine and take a trip with me... it's 1969 and the place is McCoy AFB, Orlando Fl.

Out on the flightline pumping several thousand gallons of AVgas into an EC-121, I get to see the resident U2 land. When it lands, the guys in the back of a SS 396 Chevy El Camino chase down the plane and put an outrigger landing wheel on each wing tip. The SS 396 Chevy El Camino was one of the fastest vehicles around that that time, and it was quite a sight to see it chase the U2 down the runway before the wingtips drooped enough to drag on the runway.

Wow, that is cool, 41 years later and we do the exact same thing, they are called pogo's, we still have a truck that follows the chase cars (amazing how a f-350 diesel keeps up with g8's) and they punch the pogos when it lands. The u-2 is old technology but boy is it reliable, we keep getting told globalcock is going to replace us, but then why did they send most of them to a museum already?

Mustang5L5 · Jun 23, 2011

So they outriggers don't come down with the main gear? They need to be manually extended down? As the plane is still rolling at 140+mph?

strattoc · Jun 23, 2011

no haha, they are something that drops off as the jet takes off, and the crew picks them up off the runway, when the jet lands the chase car guides the pilot to land so that the wing tips to contact the ground and after the jet taxis to the end of the runway the crew re-inserts the pogo's so it can taxi to the hangar. because of the setup I can move a wing up and down by myself, this thing is a bicycle with long ass wings lol.

Metalcop · Jun 24, 2011

I think they used Plymouth Superbirds back in the early 70's, as well? I know the EPA had a Superbird chase/support vehicle for planes - decibels and emmisions etc.

1989GtFoxBody · Jun 24, 2011

If you look on musclemustangfastfords.com, they did a article on the aero nose chase car not to long ago. It was a interesting read because it combined two of my favorite things. Ill try and dig it up for you.

SSP chase cars used for U-2 plane

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