Pat Flannery wrote:


And unfortunately quite a few that have bulges on them also. Assuming
that this _is_ a vertical fin, then we need to find something that has
matching panel layout, and those ovoid shaped access panels at its
base visible in this photo:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jpa_2/pages/item2a.htm
At least this should be easier than trying to find a plan of the panel
layout on the bottom of a wing; most three-views show the top, front,
and side of the aircraft- but not the bottom.
I'll go looking!


AND I'LL FIND IT ALSO!
Dean Peeters was right- it's the vertical fin off of a Vought F-8
Crusader, (or possibly a A-7 Corsair II...but I'm betting on the F-8).
Look at the crashsite photo, and note the paneling that's shifted
backwards just under the bulge, so that it aligns with the front of the
fin rather than its overall shape:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jpa_2/pages/item2a.htm
.....now look at this photo of the vertical fin on a F-8 (French Navy in
this case):
http://www.aeroslides.com/modelpubli...8p/F-8P-49.jpg
Everything matches; hinge location, bump, panel arrangement, circular
access panels at base of fin. The only difference is that the French
navy used different nav gear on theirs, so that the bump is rectangular
in section, rather than the more rounded shape of the one on the
late-model U. S. Navy F-8 Crusaders:
http://airpower.callihan.cc/images/Modern/f8u1-tm.jpg , which also
incorporated a tail light (the twin bumps on the back end would probably
be rear warning sensors to detect incoming enemy aircraft or missiles).
So I assume that the what's-it that was in the first photograph is the
crushed cylindrical tail section of the aircraft that incorporates the
hydraulic cylinders that move the tail control surfaces- stabilators and
rudder in this case.

Pat