Letter come and see for herself: How a spyplane-obsessed schoolgirl melted an air crew's heart... and made her dream come true by letting her join them

By Matt Blake

Last updated at 6:56 PM on 6th March 2012

There are a great many things you might expect at the top of a nine-year-old girl's wishlist... but to pilot a military spyplane isn't one.

For Ellie Carter, though, that dream came true (almost) when she raced at 120mph in the chase car following a U-2 jet as it came in to land.

Ellie , from Great Torrington, Devon, wrote to the organisers of the the world’s largest military airshow asking if they could feature her favourite aircraft the following summer.

But in her enthusiasm Ellie only gave her name, age and the fact she lives in Devon, leading to an international 'hunt' for the youngster which captured the attention of the US crew of the spyplane at Beale Air Force Base, in California.

Scroll down for video and to read her moving letter

Thrill of the chase: Ellie Carter was given the opportunity to sit in the chase car travelling at approximately 120mph as it attempted to keep up with the landing U-2 plane

Luckily the Monkleigh Primary School pupil keeps a close eye on the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) website and spotted the plea from organisers trying to track her down.

After her mother, Lorna Carter, got in touch it was arranged by the crew of the U-2 spyplane - who had been inspired by Ellie’s letter - for her to come to the US airbase and be shown around the aircraft.

Nice patch: Ellie shows off her U-2 solo flight patch, the only one ever given to someone who hasn't flown a U-2 solo

She was also given the rare opportunity to sit in the chase car travelling at approximately 120mph as it attempted to keep up with the landing U-2 plane, which had just completed a 12-hour flight from Sacramento at altitudes on the edge of space.

'It was really fun,' Ellie said afterwards.

'You could just see the back of the plane, which was really cool, and it came overhead and landed in front of us.

'The U-2’s just unique and it flies in space and everybody has to work together.'

In her letter to RIAT Ellie wrote: 'I have come to the airshow for the last two years and my ambition is to be a pilot.

'I am doing really well at school and my teachers help me by giving me work that the older children do to keep me working hard, which I really like, as to reach my ambition I have to keep working hard.

'I wanted to write a letter to you that you may be able to pass on to the people in charge of the aircraft that I would most like to see at Fairford - and that is a U-2.

'I have a large U-2 model on my ceiling with my stars as it flies on the edge of space and I have heard that U-2s have landed at Fairford recently on their missions.

'I would love to see that happen for real and one day I hope I may be good enough to do a job like that.'

Heart melting: Ellie wrote, 'I wanted to write a letter to you that you may be able to pass on to the people in charge of the aircraft that I would most like to see at Fairford - and that is a U-2'

Speaking about the letter today, she added: 'It just went everywhere, it went to Fairford and then to the Pentagon and Beal Air Force Base, which was really amazing.'

Ellie’s love of U-2s - which fly at more than 70,000ft and so close to space the pilot has to wear a space suit, began shortly after her first visit to the Air Tattoo, which is held annually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

Though they are rarely seen at airshows in the UK, U-2s occasionally land at RAF Fairford on their way back to the US following top secret missions.

Dream come true: Ellie tries on a U-2 pilot's gloves and tries some of their food (left) and a U-2 pilot's helmet at RAF Fairford

The aircraft is unusual in that it is always met on landing by a ground crew in high performance vehicles who chase it down the runway in order to fix stabilisers under the wingtips as the aircraft rolls to a stop.

The crew of the U-2 said when they heard about Ellie’s letter they wanted to be part of making her dream come true and give her the opportunity to see the plane up close.

'Ellie’s story was made aware to us several weeks ago and it’s very unique for a girl of her age to have search a unique interest in our aircraft, so it caught a lot of attention both with our squadron and the greater air force as a whole,' Captain Ray Tierney said.

'She expressed a great interest in one day becoming the first British foreign exchange U-2 pilot and I would say her knowledge is comparable to just about any of us out here, she’s done quite a lot of homework.'

In the cockpit: Ellie gets to grips with the controls of a U-2

Ellie was walked through the steps that the crew go through to 'recover' the aircraft and was shown the different techniques and procedures used.

After her high speed drive down the runway she was taken into one of the hangers to be shown the space suit and helmet and given some 'apple pie' space food to try.

Captain Tierney presented Ellie with a 'solo flight patch' - the only one ever given to someone who has not actually completed a flight in the U-2.

The spyplane, which is also called the 'Dragon Lady', is used in the collection of different kinds of information of a military and humanitarian nature.

Ellie was accompanied today by her parents, Neil Carter, 42, and 40-year-old Mrs Carter, along with younger brother Caelin, six, - although her mother said it is really Ellie who is plane 'mad'.

Mrs Carter added that before today’s visit Ellie had told an assembly at her school that she could not tell them about what she was doing as it was 'top secret'.

'She’s been counting down the hours,' Mrs Carter said.

'This morning she kept saying ‘can we get up yet, can we get up yet?’

Moving: Ellie's letter moved the crew so m,uch, they said they had to meet her

'It’s her dream, her dream is to be a U-2 pilot and I can’t imagine her doing anything else.

'She seems to know just as much as the pilots do about the cockpit and everything now, so it’s definitely her destiny.'

Ellie attended her special day wearing a flying suit which she had bought using her holiday money from when she visited RIAT.

'The Air Tattoo made her so happy that when we left she cried for probably 10 miles on the way home before falling asleep,' Mrs Carter said.

Richard Arquati, spokesman for the Air Tattoo, said that while they often received requests from aviation fans asking for particular aircraft to feature at the airshow, few were so articulate or as passionate as Ellie’s.

He said: 'We were so bowled over by Ellie’s letter that we featured it on our website. Amazingly it was seen by the U-2 pilots in the US who got in contact with us.

This summer’s Royal International Air Tattoo takes place on July 7 and 8 when it will be marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.