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

Biggest one is radar.
Need to stick the front facing electronics somewhere. Some aircraft like the MiG-21 crammed their radar into the intake but that wasn’t an ideal solution.
To an extent also, radar on the receiving end. A huge frontal circle perpendicular to the enemy radar is bad. Very bad. Though this became more of a thing when radar cross sections(how big the plane appears) came into play.

There some aerodynamic benefits too.
Summarizing a whole lot of aerodynamics, but radial intakes help control the flow of air into the engines at different flight profiles. Fighters move at weird angles and speeds.
Consistent non turbulent air at a certain speed is great for an engine.
Radial intakes do some stuff with the layer of air going around the skin of the plane using some geometry that gives a more consistent air flow to the engine.
Engines at the back also causes drag loss if there air has to travel farther down intake tube to get to the engine. Somewhat like sucking a longer straw.