This is the perfect post for the site’s category “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” here on the site. Well, near perfect — it’s all about planes and automobiles. Adding trains would be a mess and disaster.
Area 51 is famous/infamous for its rumors of being involved in possible alien technology and also as a secret testing ground for America’s newest technology. But it’s also famous for having long runways, one of which is utilized to this day for flight operations of the U-2 Spy Plane, also known as the U-2 Dragon Lady.
The unique dimensions of the U-2 Dragon Lady make landing a bit of precarious exercise, and it turns out that over the past 60+ years of its service, the pilot gets landing assistance via a driver chasing the descending plane in an American Muscle car, starting with a Ford station wagon and even borrowing an California Highway Patrol’s Ford Mustang. In recent years it’s been Pontiacs, according to the video in the link below. The video mentions the Pontiac G8 as the most recent chase vehicle. But assuming the U.S. Government has made purchases in the past few years, with Pontiac going away, it’s likely the Chevrolet SS, which is a rebadged G8, coming out of the same Australian factory that used to do the G8. The Chevy SS is also the car the automotive company markets as its race car in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, though that’s in name and partially looks only.
Rumors are that the Chevy SS is going away, so future government purchases for Dragon Lady landing assistance may go to another American manufacturer.
Regardless, take a look at the article and video linked below. It’s interesting from both the plane and automotive technology and usage.
The U-2 spy plane needs high-performance cars to help land