(Lead photo: SrA Jake Carter/USAF) It’s the dream job for a gearhead who wants to serve their country: to be one of the chase drivers that is responsible for helping the pilots of the U-2 spy plane come in for a landing. Why? Because they get a government-plated hot rod to chase after the Dragon Lady with, that’s why. Regardless of which branch you sign up for, if you’re working on the flightline in any way, shape or form, you’ve already won the lottery and being responsible for a high-performance car that you’re allowed to take out onto the runways and are required to go WFO in as part of your duties…pinch us now! The historical fleet alone is full of dream rides: Chevrolet El Caminos with big blocks, Ford Mustang SSPs, late-model Pontiac GTOs and G8s, and now, Dodge Chargers. And I have it on good authority that none of the cars listed were perfectly stock.
Photo: SrA Gracie Lee/USAF
Unfortunately, it’s two Dodge Chargers that have given the Air Force something new to figure out in short order. Both cars need to be sent to RAF Mildenhall in the U.K. to accompany U-2 crews in their duties. But that’s the problem: there isn’t a military standard for loading a Dodge Charger onto a military aircraft, and the Air Force just doesn’t rachet-strap the hell out of them and hope for the best, either. So, what to do? There’s three options, really: one is to get the required certification from the Air Transportability Test Loading Agency, which could take…oh, forever and a day is a good guess. They could be sent by ship, so if they aren’t needed for a month or so, that could work. Or the cars could remain stateside and the Air Force could hunt the U.K. market for useable replacements. A quick search of classifieds did turn up a police-spec Charger, and a Vauxhall VXR8 could work in a pinch, though we bet that some senior official would have a canary seeing airmen racing down the runway in a bright red four-door with stripes and an exhaust note from the gearhead gods. 
So, what would you do: slow boat to Dover, get to work on drawing up a full technical manual that covers how to properly load Sedan, Aircraft Pursuit (Dodge), or would you just hit the market and let the guys in the hangars sample some locally-sourced cuisine for a little while?
What about leaving them at home and just using Ford Focus RS’s as chase cars?
Give ’em a couple of F-Types or DB11:s, so they can chase down the plane in style.
I find it hard to believe they can’t load a Charger onto a loading pallet for transport. Those guys load everything else. But lokng at the picture of the Chargers it appears they don’t have a sunroof. Can’t see that well but that may be the problems. To land a U2 a chase car needs to be a convertible, T-Top or have a sun roof because the U2 drops its wing wheels after take off leaving only 2 wheels inline in the fuselage and somebody has to stand up in the chase car to catch one wing to keep the other from dragging the runway. When I was at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar they used a Camaro
I don’t think they install the tip wheels on landing with these. The old U2 from days gone by they did, but stopped doing that too.
Hire a private contactor with a 747 to ship them to the UK, that’s what I did when I shipped my Duster off of Oahu, I put it on a 747 to be sent to Long Beach, CA.
Can’t help with shipping, but I have a funny story.
Back in the days right after the Wright Bros. Retired. The 80’s, I was a young Airman working my way through learning how to order parts using a micro phish reader (btw I wish I took it home when I had the opertunity) anyway, I found an interesting part number with the description “ Engine,internal combustion,High Performance 427 cubic inch”. I also found the spare engines for the SR71 start carts,Buick 455ci. I actually called my friend over in supply and he verified the number was good and 8! Of those 427 where out in the system at different warehouses ,and no Our base was not authorized to order one.
Airmen don\’t drive U2/TR1 chase cars. U2/TR1 pilots do.
I wouldn’t think that this would be a significant problem. As was indicated, they probably would be palletized (think Humvee or equivalent). If you used Kevlar straps over each tire with a Kevlar canopy (sort of like a tire 1/2 cover over the top of each tire it should work quickly and inexpensively to immobilize the vehicle without damaging or modifying the vehicle. If memory serves, the aircraft is limited to 8G or so before the wings separate. So unlikely to be an issue. I suspect if you’re exceeding that limit, the pilots and passengers have other serious issues to address. I would think a C-130, V-17, or C-141 would easily fill the requirements.
As ti the “convertible” or sunroof aspects, all you’d need to do is mount 3-4 High resolution cameras to the light bar on the roof and observe the aircraft on a high resolution LED or LCD full HD screen mounted to the dash or possibly a physical plug-in to the dashboard. Such an approach would be very cost effective and most of the components are already in the AF inventory. An additional advantage to such an approach would be the bonus of infrared capable cameras for night landings… actually it’d be pretty easy to do.
My .02
Bob J
Sorry for the typo, C-17, not V-17
Really ? Lohnes + Co. cant figure this one out ?
ITS CALLED KALITTA AIR ……
They move any thing anywhere anytime ….
just have an open check book and a new pen handy
When I was in the Navy we would occasionally load a vehicle into one of the helo hangers ferry it from port to port. East coast to to the UK is only a 4 day trip by ship.
If the Air Force can fly hundreds of Hummers to Iraq it can fly a couple of Chargers to England. I thank someone is put out some false intelligence.
Bet the Seabees could build a bridge and get it over there in a day. Just sayin….