And you thought your landings were bad..........
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This is intriguing -
YouTube - Venezuela F-16 hunting USAF U-2
- any Spanish speakers care to translate what is being said?
YouTube - Venezuela F-16 hunting USAF U-2
- any Spanish speakers care to translate what is being said?
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Here's another U-2 link - a story about landing after a flameout
Above & Beyond: I Have a Flameout | Military Aviation | Air & Space Magazine#
About the the chase car, the article says:
"Because control at low speed was marginal and landing required a full stall, all landings were assisted by another U-2 pilot driving a Chevrolet El Camino with a souped-up engine. The driver raced down the runway behind the landing airplane, radioing height information: “One foot…six inches…hold it off…. Good touchdown!”
Above & Beyond: I Have a Flameout | Military Aviation | Air & Space Magazine#
About the the chase car, the article says:
"Because control at low speed was marginal and landing required a full stall, all landings were assisted by another U-2 pilot driving a Chevrolet El Camino with a souped-up engine. The driver raced down the runway behind the landing airplane, radioing height information: “One foot…six inches…hold it off…. Good touchdown!”
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An El Camino?! I used to drive one of those - a '73, with a couple hundred thousand miles on the clock. I suspect the writer means a Chevy Camaro...
.....something like this:
Third-generation Chevrolet Camaro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.....compared to something like this:
Chevrolet El Camino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But I would be mighty impressed if someone has a picture of an El Camino chasing a U-2 to prove me wrong!
.....something like this:
Third-generation Chevrolet Camaro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.....compared to something like this:
Chevrolet El Camino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
But I would be mighty impressed if someone has a picture of an El Camino chasing a U-2 to prove me wrong!
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Wouldn't it have been cheaper and easier to have fitted the U2 with a nose-mounted video camera and some sort of "parking sensor" arrangement for the last few feet? 
Or how about a Concorde droop-snoot?
Or how about a Concorde droop-snoot?
Guess you could fit a camera on the nose but much more fun screaming down the runway in someone else's car. Spent a day with U2 guys on a detachment once. Surreal experience seeing a guy in a spacesuit being lifted out of the cockpit after a x hr mission.
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"An El Camino?! I used to drive one of those - a '73, with a couple hundred thousand miles on the clock. I suspect the writer means a Chevy Camaro..."
It was a El Camino for sure and I remember that the driver said that it was very underpowered, I think the 396 cu inch version??
The vehicles that carried the "pogos" were BL Sherpa pickups.
Last edited by Bicontatto; 12th Mar 2009 at 16:51. Reason: Word added
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From Hemmings Motor News: Radio Flyer
"It's not any old vehicle that the United States Air Force uses to chase their single-seat TR-1 and U-2S high-altitude tactical reconnaissance planes. This Mustang LX 5.0L's direct predecessors were 1980s El Caminos stuffed full of 396 cu.in. big-block"
"It's not any old vehicle that the United States Air Force uses to chase their single-seat TR-1 and U-2S high-altitude tactical reconnaissance planes. This Mustang LX 5.0L's direct predecessors were 1980s El Caminos stuffed full of 396 cu.in. big-block"
I remember the Dragon Lady chase El Camino's at Alconbury back in the 1980's...
Could have sworn one of the guys there said they had 402's or 454's in them though.....
Could have sworn one of the guys there said they had 402's or 454's in them though.....
When the RAF pilots were trained in them, did the RAF also provide the 'chase car'? What was it ... a Morris Minor, perhaps a Vauxhall Viva, or maybe an Austin Allegro? 
Now, I never knew you could do the FOD check at 155mph ..... 
DCD
But I would be mighty impressed if someone has a picture of an El Camino chasing a U-2 to prove me wrong!
DCD
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I've seen them use Subaru Impreza Turbo's to talk him down from - it must have seemed strange for the Americans to find themselves in a car that corners as well as going bloody fast!
"Wouldn't it have been cheaper and easier to have fitted the U2 with a nose-mounted video camera and some sort of "parking sensor" arrangement for the last few feet? 
Or how about a Concorde droop-snoot?"
You have to remember the plane was designed over 50 years ago! As to a drooping nose, it doesn't sit that high off the ground so there isn't much room to droop. Plus the goal was to make the plane as light as possible. Every pound saved was worth some number of feet higher ceiling. Kelly carried this to an extreme when he designed the SR-71 with external starters.
Or how about a Concorde droop-snoot?"
You have to remember the plane was designed over 50 years ago! As to a drooping nose, it doesn't sit that high off the ground so there isn't much room to droop. Plus the goal was to make the plane as light as possible. Every pound saved was worth some number of feet higher ceiling. Kelly carried this to an extreme when he designed the SR-71 with external starters.
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Awesome - pleased to be proved wrong and glad to know that I was not driving the preferred ride of '80s landscape gardeners and stoners who couldn't decide if they wanted a car or a truck, but a vehicle that played an integral role in the demolition of the Iron Curtain.