The oldest TR1 pilot was 28 (if I remember correctly).The youngest was 24. The pilots were extremely unimpressed with what they did. Their job was purely to lift the A/C off the ground & fly it up to cruising altitude. They would then hand over control of the A/C to the pre-programmed navigational computer/ground control & try to cure their boredom by reading a book for the next few hours, whilst somebody else flew the A/C...
After several hours of looking through a space helmet their vision was severely impaired with "tunnel vision", hence the need for a chase vehicle with another TR1 pilot to talk the TR1 down on finals & support a wing.
Most of that is complete and utter bolleaux.
1. The average age of a U2 / TR1 pilot is much older than you state.
2. No-one flies the U2 who hasn't volunteered, passed stringent assessment and been accepted. They are all very proud of what they do.
3. The U2 flies to a very close margin between normal stall speed and shock stall speed, sometimes known as 'coffin corner'. To fly to such accuracy for hours on end mandates a very capable autopilot. The route was pre-defined; the U2 is not a 'manned drone'.
4. The purpose of the chase pilot and vehicle are emphatically not as you describe, but as APG63 describes.
But yes, you are right, quite a few U2 pilots read the odd novel at altitude whilst watching MiG-23s floundering about below them.
On a certain aircraft type I flew, we had a role similar to a certain USAF role and worked closely with our US colleagues. Amongst whom was an ex-U-2 pilot on a classified ground tour. At one of the locations of our US colleagues, a U-2 detachment shared the base. We were fortunate enough to be invited by our ex-U-2 chum to visit the U-2 det for a good look around the jet and to chat with the operators. A few days later, 2 of us were invited to watch the whole U-2 mission launch. We'd had a few beers with the pilot a day or so earlier - he was a bird colonel of less than youthful years. Obviously we couldn't attend the classified NOFOR mission brief itself, but we joined the pilot during the last few minutes of his pre-oxygenation, then followed him through environmental check out and his ride out to the jet (already checked with engine running). It took him less than a minute to strap in and be ready. Then a green light from the mission cell and off he went to the runway with us following in the chase car. On the runway, the chase belts down the runway doing a quick final FoD check, then turns back to sit where the U-2 pilot can see, before giving a thumb-up signal. Immediately the U-2 is slammed to max thrust and the chase sets off after it to recover the outrigger pogos.
By the time we got back to the det, the U-2 was already well out of sight. Then off we went to 'do breakfast' with our US host.
What the jet does is vaguely known.
Where it does it and
when is and must remain a closely guarded secret.
It was a huge privilege to have been given such an insight into the world of those who fly the U-2 - something I'll never forget.