Chasing The U-2

I’m sure most of you have seen the U-2 chase car videos. Typically, it’s a pair of hot Mustangs or Camaros hauling ass down the air strip trying to keep up with a winged rocket. If you haven’t been exposed, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to check it out.

But the Lockheed U-2 first flew in 1955 and I’ve always wondered what in the hell they used in the early days to chase the aircraft down. Recently, I got a few of those questions answered.

Here’s the email that tipped it off:

Hey Ryan. I’m retired Major Tommy Douglas from the US Air Force. I’m also a car junkie and have been ever since I can remember. I’m emailing you because I thought you would find my history a little interesting given our shared passions.

In 1954, I participated in a car project for the Air Force. Myself and three or four others were given the task of finding and preparing a car to be used as a chase vehicle for the then top secret U-2 spy plane. The U-2 was a complicated aircraft to land due to its huge wing span and bicycle landing gear. Pilots don’t necessarily land the U-2. Instead, they fly it to about 2′ off the ground and then stall it. And they do this blindly, so spotters are needed at each wing tip to call altitude.

The two cars we procured were to hold these spotters and needed to be capable of speeds of up to 120mph – just under the approach speed of the U-2. They also had to have enough cargo room to hold the detachable pogo gears that go on the wing tips of the aircraft and allow for taxiing.

At the time, the best vehicle for the job was a 1956 or ’57 Ford Station Wagon. It was anemic in stock form, but we were hot rod guys and took care of that easy enough.

Anyway, happy to answer any questions I can if you have any.

Yours,

Tommy D.

Tommy… Questions? Really? I have more than questions. I have demands! I have to know what y’all did to that y-block to get it up to speed with a U-2 on approach. And surely, you had to do something with the brakes to get them stopped? I’m sure I have a ton of other concerns, but I’m too excited to think of them at the moment.

Do you by chance have any pictures of any this? I can’t imagine how amazing they would be to study!

Thanks so much for the information and the story!

Ryan C.

Ryan, thanks so much for the excitement. Makes an old man happy, don’t ya know? We had two wagons on base. The first was powered by a 312 with a McCullough supercharger on it. I don’t remember exactly where we sourced that motor, but I think we took it out of a factory Fairlane provided by Ford. It was fast, but the driver’s timing with the U-2 pilot had to be perfect to get the spotter in an ideal position.

The second wagon had a supercharged Mercury engine in it. I believe that one came from a NASCAR shop in Florida, but I don’t have any specific memory of it. That car was really fast and gave the driver a little more cushion for error.

I don’t recall doing anything to the brakes. We had a really long and wide “landing strip” at the time and the U-2 skidded down this strip for quite a ways, giving us plenty of time to slow down. Worse came to worse, we could just swing out wide and coast to a stop.

I do remember lots of “testing” on that runway with those cars. There might have been some shenanigans, but no pictures. The base we used had pretty tight security.

If I can think of any other details, I will be sure to write.

Thanks so much for the brief relief from this virus lock,

Tommy

Incredible, right? This exchange lead me on a bit of a wild goose chase. I haven’t been able to find much of anything on the internet about these cars. I assume the first wagon mentioned was probably powered by a stock F-Code engine, but what about the second? A NASCAR shop out of Florida? I initially thought about Holman-Moody and their early experience with the McCullough, but they were out of North Carolina… So… I don’t know.

And pictures? I’m guessing he was at Edwards Air Force Base (or another facility very close to it) and for the same reason he didn’t have any pictures, there aren’t any available on the internet to study. I did, however, find two shots featuring both a U-2 and a Ford wagon. Check em out:

You gotta think that’s one of the wagons Tommy and his pals got together, right? Man, I love this kind of stuff. If any of you has any spare time today (who doesn’t these days?), look through your own materials and maybe we can get some more shots of these wagons!