The “need for speed” hits some of us harder than others. Earlier this month, officers from the California Highway Patrol – West Valley arrested a man who allegedly drove a Chevy Camaro at 131 mph in a 65 mph section eastbound of the highway 101.

What makes this incident more than food for the local crime blotter is the Camaro, which is covered in US Air Force badges, mottos, and an airplane-style paint job from hunt. It even has the Air Force recruiting logo, “Aim High” written on its rear bumper, under a spoiler that should at least have its own Social Security number if not its own zip code.

Believe it or not, the Camaro is not a military vehicle, CHP West Valley told Task & Purpose. No, it belongs to the driver, who is not a soldier. This means the Air Force‘s biggest fan was caught driving his Big Blue Motorcycle Wagon at almost a third of the top speed (420 mph) of the A-10 attack aircraft. upon which the paint job appears to be based.

Social media commentators naturally had fun.

“Doctor’s form:” are you in a state of flight? “This guy: ‘yes, yes I am,'” wrote a commentator on the popular Air Force Facebook page amn / nco / snco, who shared the post from CHP.

“Accelerated change taken too literally,” wrote another, referring to the well-known plan of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. to prepare his branch for a war with China or Russia, called “Speed ​​up change or lose.”

“I thought nothing could stop the US Air Force,” wrote a third.

The driver was arrested, cited for driving over 100 miles per hour and released, according to the CHP. Exceeding double the speed limit is not a crime, unless a driver is cited for reckless driving, which would be considered an offense, the agency said.

Notably, the Air Force actually has a long history with the Chevy Camaro. In 2015, the Goodfellow Air Force Base, TX Public Affairs Store highlighted a store owned by Tech Sgt. Stephen Strong of the 315th Training Squadron. The car sported bronze-gray paint, rows of shark teeth, and a cartoon flying tiger on the doors. The decor was a tribute to the Flying Tigers, the American pilots who fought the Japanese in present-day Burma and China during World War II.

“The second car I painted was this one,” Strong said in 2015 of his Camaro. “I was walking out of the 14th Air Force headquarters building and there was a 1940s P-40 Warhawk on static display. I was looking at it and thought it would be a really cool idea to do the tooth design.

It paid off, and at the time, the aviator was getting a lot of attention for his sharp work.

“When finished, it rose to fame almost overnight,” he said. “I was offered to take my car to exotic auto shows with some 200 Ferraris and Lamborghinis. My car was the only domestic vehicle present.

Like many A-10 attack aircraft today, the P-40 Warhawk fighter jets flown by the Flying Tigers sported rows of shark teeth near their noses. Strong’s Camaro was painted in reference to the Warhawk, although it is not clear whether the painted teeth on the California speedster’s car referred to the Warhawks or the A-10s.

Either way, the Chevy Camaro is a great canvas choice for Air Force fans. The service actually uses sports cars to help pilots land U-2 “Dragon Lady” spy planes. The U-2 is notoriously difficult to land, so the Camaro pilot, who is also a fully trained U-2 pilot, drives alongside the plane and tells the pilot over the radio how much space is left between the plane and runway, whether they are aligned with the center line, whether the wings are level and whether further adjustments are required.

“On a windy and choppy day, the [driver] can be extremely busy helping the rider ride a 40,000 pound bike on the track! The Air Force wrote in a 2019 press release about the pursuit cars.

Part of the reason U-2 pilots can’t make these judgments themselves is that they wear a pressure suit and a bulky helmet that protects them at high altitudes, but makes it impossible to see them. sides of the plane and wings. .

“Worse still, on wet days the lower portion of the front canopy can fog up,” the Air Force wrote. “The translation of it all is you can’t see very well and you need a winger to help you land. “

The branch has also used Pontiacs, Subarus, Mercedes, Audi and other cars as pursuit vehicles, the Air Force wrote, but the Camaro continues to be a backdrop for power aficionados. Aerial. Take, for example, this gray painted Chevrolet, with an Air Force cockade on the doors, the branch logo on the hood and an F-16 fighter jet silhouette on the rear. Better yet, take a look at the official Camaro sponsored by the Air Force and driven by Bubba Wallace in the NASCAR Cup series, which also features teeth on the fender.

The Air Force even inflated Camaros in wartime. In the early 1990s, Air Force technicians helped a retired Danish commando add bulletproof panels, night vision systems, anti-infrared paint, demining blade, radio system ground-to-air and 200 horsepower to a 1979 Camaro. so that the commando, Helge Meyer, could sneak past hostile fighters to deliver food, medicine and other supplies to civilians in Vukovar, in the torn Balkans. war, according to Military Times.

“At the end of its race of modifications, the Camaro was now ready for war and its driver – Meyer – was ready to roll, armed only with a Bible, a pack of cigarettes and protected by a donation. [flak] vest and helmet, ”Military Times wrote.

It’s unclear if the California driver was aware of this story when he knocked it down on December 2, but it certainly adds another chapter to the Air Force’s historic relationship with the Camaro. Vrroom vrroom!

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