old friend hitches ride with SKUNKWORKS
 

My middle finder twitched on the right mouse button, and paragon.myvnc.com said "You can't do that here".

Who's the old friend it the thread title?

who's
 

Nothing other than the dorsal synthetic aperture radar hiding inside its 99-year-old Paul Jaray-esque radome.
Or is that Cambridge University's CUER redux, manned-up in flat black?:)

You aren't cleared for the project and don't have a need to know. Could ask ex Col Buda, but he won't say either.

aren't
 

Roger that!

How does one "hitch" a ride on a single seat aircraft?

how?
 

If you're popular enough, they attach a special pylon up top for you, on condition that you're not claustrophobic, afraid of the dark, won't pester the pilot, try and snag food or drink, nor JP-7, and can pee down a plastic tube if you can't hold it.
Ability to jump to the ground during taxi, and install the pogos before the wingtips scrape is also a plus.

Ah, so.

Do you suppose there are examples laying around in some boneyard? Asking for my friend, the Beetle floorpan.

Can't wait, thanks

boneyards
 

Actually, yes. Tucson, Arizona, USA. However, they're so large, no amount of chopping, channeling, or sectioning could render them small enough for a road vehicle.
Even the one that fell near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 had to be transported by rail car.

Oh well, then a house boat?

houseboat
 

Still too large. They all arrived by air. Ground shipping by truck would violate height limitation without special permits. For all states you passed through.
Cutting the things into pieces and restoring them is still problematic, since the radar antenna are still inside. Cranes would be required at both ends of the journey. Oversize warning vehicles, fore and aft.

So just how big it that thing?

https://static.turbosquid.com/Previe...b9186Large.jpg
https://static.turbosquid.com/Previe...b9186Large.jpg

The only dimension I find is a fuselage length of 49.7ft. The radome appears to be 1/4th that. I mentally transpose the cockpit to the radome and it appears to be a good fit.

One sweet belly tanker.

how big
 

The Dragon Lady fairing wouldn't be available to us. The ones that are, are quite large, especially the 'Willy Fudd,' Grumman Tracker/Tracer.

But that's the one I want. :(

A few links to images.

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8749773

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elevationair/36888439241

https://i0.wp.com/theaviationist.com...24%2C572&ssl=1

Wing Tips and Wheel Wells - U-2S Dragon Lady by David W. Aungst (and others)

I'd imagine the shape would work very well there. But it's not a car, is it?

not a car
 

True.
And as a car, its fineness ratio would be a bit excessive.
The Cambridge University Eco Racer ( CUER ) of 2013 is 'shorter' and more 'carlike'. And, at twice the drag of the U-2's radome, it's aligned with what ground proximity values would be for Cds reported by Hoerner.
And CUER's Cd 0.11 aligns well with the baby template, which suffered a bit from 'gappy' wheel fairings and loss of rear knife edges ( to allow for taillights and license plate).
These ichthyoid forms are hard to beat.