By Mike Solowiow
March 7, 2008 -
The demise of the Camaro left the Air Force's U-2 Dragonlady pilots with a problem. The Camaros were used as chase vehicles for the take-offs and landings of the surveillance jet. One Camaro "sees" for the pilot (who literally can't see the runway), and another carries the removable wing landing gear that detach upon take-off. After years of hard abuse, the Camaros finally started to give up, and the USAF needed a very fast, stable platform to chase the jet down the runway. Corvettes were too expensive, and couldn't carry a wing strut. That left the Mustang GT, GTO, Charger R/T or something "ferrin" (other than the GTO). After several trials, they selected the GTO 6.0-liter as the quickest, most reliable chase car. If you're looking for a used GTO and can't find one, blame the Boys in Blue. The GTO of your dreams is probably chasing a U2 down a runway somewhere. No shit.
Subscribe to New Content Alerts25 Comments on “ USAF: Goodbye Chevrolet Camaro, Hello Pontiac GTO ”
Leave a Reply 
Back to Top
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BlinkList
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Furl
Google
Live
NewsVine
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Technorati
YahooMyWeb
POWERED
March 7th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
The GTO has such a small trunk. I’m surprised they didn’t opt for the Dodge Magnum R/T. Maybe not quick enough?
March 7th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Any chance that, in reality, this did coincide why I couldn’t talk a dealship down from 30k on the black auto LS2 Goat they had on the new car lot, even though it had to have been there for a year, and they shoulda just CPO’d it?
March 7th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
LS2 powered GTO’s are VERY fast cars (and that’s a reliable engine), particularly for the money. And I would argue that they are actually more faithful to the original muscle car concept (normal sedan with large motor) than most people admit.
Good choice, USAF.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Dodge Magnum RTs are nowhere NEAR as quick as an LS1 GT0 - they’re heavier, and make way less power.
We’re talking a full second difference here, at least.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Cool.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
When I did my G8 and G8 GT test last week, we also had a Charger R/T out there. It was considerably slower and handle a million times worse that the G8 GT, and I owuld argue it wasn’t faster than the G8 with the V6. A LS2 Goat would blow up a Charger or Magnum R/T.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Awesome. Glad to see a simple solution to this problem was devised using off-the-lot hardware instead of some billion-dollar custom “solution”.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
They wanted stable, reliable and fast. Why would they have considered the Magnum?
When I was in the USAF (’87-’91) they were using Mustang GTs…
March 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I’m surprised the Air Force didn’t hold a competition and award the contract to Fiat.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Sammy - if that is a knock on the recent tanker award to NG/Airbus, then I’m right there with ya. Idiotic…
But they’ve actually used GTOs to chase U2s for a couple years now according to my colleagues here at Lackland AFB.
Maybe you’ll be able to find them at military surplus sales one day…
March 7th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
+1 for Mr. Karesh. The GTO’s trunk is tiny, but I guess its just large enough.
Something about this blog makes me wanna enlist. That looks like some seriously fun sh–!!!
March 7th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Sammy - if that is a knock on the recent tanker award to NG/Airbus, then I’m right there with ya. Idiotic…
How is that…
I should think people should be happy that USAF is choosing reliable up-to-date tech from Europe.
Although, as much as I dislike to admit it, the A380 is a lame duck.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I should think people should be happy that USAF is choosing reliable up-to-date tech from Europe.
Well all the pilots and former pilots I work with here refer to them as Scarebus and you couldn’t pay them enough to fly anything they make.
But agreed that the trunk in the GTO is super small as they had to move the gas tank behind the back seats to meet US crash regulations. Just enough room for a donut and a day bag or two.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
The USAF has used GTO’s for a couple years now, however, with the last of the Camaros starting to go out of comission, especially in deployed locations, they are augmenting their ranks with all GTO fleets, in order to keep the parts inventory down (less parts with one model of car, instead of two or three).
And the GTO’s trunk is just big enough for a U-2 wing strut… just….
And they are a riot to see as they light up the rear wheels and scream down the runway after the U-2.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Holy crap, the car companies should have been battling each other for the opportunity to provide these cars to the USAF, I can see huge advertising opportunities for a car that the Air Force figures can keep up with jets.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
So I can hit up a government surplus sale in a year or two here and pick up an LS2 goat on the cheap?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Load the trunk up with MRE’s and you’re good to go!!
March 7th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
# Virtual Insanity :
March 7th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
So I can hit up a government surplus sale in a year or two here and pick up an LS2 goat on the cheap?
I’d guess not since they ran the Camaros till they died…or did that since they couldn’t source any new replacements (not sure which).
March 7th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Just more excuse to buy a Texas Speed 402, lol.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I wondered what happened to all those new GTOs that had been sitting on Pontiac lots for so long, then suddenly disappeared.
Still, while I can buy that the Corvette is too expensive, I have a hard time believing that there’s that much more room in a GTO’s trunk than in the hatch area of a ‘Vette.
Though either would still have a lot less room than the hatch area of a Camaro, particularly with the rear seat folded down. Too bad the Dodge Ram SRT-10 was so expensive. Seems like it would have been perfect for the job.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I’ll have to take my GTO down to the nearest AF base and see if they’ll let me chase the jets! :)
March 8th, 2008 at 1:10 am
I wonder if they might have considered a Holden Commodore Wagon? Same running gear - huge body. Or a Ute for that matter.
March 8th, 2008 at 7:14 am
seems to me the only car they really needed is Saab (made from jets…or something)
March 8th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Enthusiasts won’t need to worry. I doubt they bought any with manual trannies.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
[...] Usaf Gto Hey there guys i ended up find this out its pretty cool. Goodbye Camaro, Hello GTO | The Truth About Cars [...]