Why was the F84 “Thunderjet” and F86 “Sabre”‘s air intake located in-line with the fuselage on the nose, while the F2H “Banshee” and F-80 “Shooting star” used radial intakes? What technological leap led us to only making single-engine fighters with radial intakes?

Question

Why was the F84 “Thunderjet” and F86 “Sabre”‘s air intake located in-line with the fuselage on the nose, while the F2H “Banshee” and F-80 “Shooting star” used radial intakes? What technological leap led us to only making single-engine fighters with radial intakes?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Neither the F2H nor the P-80 were initially designed to have radar. Later F2H models added radar by lengthening the nose and moving the cannon. The F2H has two engines (a Navy requirement until the F-35), mounted at the wing root, so has two intakes.

The P-80 has two intakes to shorten the ducting length. It’s a very early jet design from 1943. Many of the problems with early turbojet engines were discovered by the P-80, leading to the nose inlet designs.

The side intakes also made room for the guns to be placed in the nose for better concentration of fire.