(Henry Spencer) wrote:

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:
I want to know what the "cheek bulges" on the side of the forward
fuselage are all about.

If memory serves, the Crusader had a single bulge -- one side only --
because its otherwise quite skillful designers had somehow neglected to
provide space for a retractable flight-refueling probe, and somewhere
between the design freeze and the production order, the USN decided to
insist on having one.

That doesn't make sense, as (IIRC) most USN aircraft of the era simply
laid the probe alone side the fuselage with little attention paid to
aerodynamics at all. That bulge is quite a bit larger, and in the
wrong position anyhow.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.