A lot of things were happening in the aerospace world when the Century Series fighters were designed and built. The Century Series aircraft included here are the F-100 through F-106. Edwards AFB has an outdoor display of these classic airplanes. They provide a wide cross section of design philosophies and solutions from which to examine more aircraft engines — this week we’ll focus on engine inlets.
F-100: the nose of this aircraft is a pitot-type engine inlet.
F-101: Inlets in line with wing root.
F-102: these two inlets appear to be very small, and the fact that they are recessed into the fuselage “behind” the nose could prove problematic at certain attitudes.
F-104: for shaping the shock/flow, this inlet has a cone inside the inlet.
F-106: inlets farther back on on the top half of the fuselage.
Bonus: F-107.
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To read more about these airplanes click here: F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-105, and F-106. (Bonus: F-107.)
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