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

TLDR: Radar

The addition of a self-contained radar unit in the nose of airplanes necessitated moving the air intakes for the engine more inboard.

That’s all there is to it, the Banshee was a radar equipped airplane