Debris found in Southern CA Desert - Anyone know what it might be?

Pat Flannery wrote:
Again, don't give me too much credit for this; It was Dean Petters who
basically narrowed it down to one of two different aircraft types, and I
just confirmed his identification...and it's hard to tell the F8 and A7
vertical fins apart- the key to it being an F8 was the fact that the
area above the rear warning radar bulge didn't sweep forward on the
trailing edge as it did on the A7;

I did notice the trailing edge, but with the limited angle of the photo,
I wasn't ready to discount the A-7 on that alone. Especially when i saw
some differences on other areas, namely the slight extension at the rear
along the body and the antenna bulb. some f-8's had it, some didn't.
the same can be said for the A-7s. i thought that there could have been
a-7s without that forward swept trailing edge. for that reason, i
didn't want to rule out a-7s.

image search for photos of the vertical fin paneling layout on both
types of aircraft... and after going over about a thousand or so images
of the two aircraft, I was able to pin it down as a F8.

Pat, you did a lot more legwork than i did in that respect. about the
only thing i pointed out (with a bit of evidence) was that this wasn't a
wing. I also gave a hint at the a/c, but others have done more to track
down those specifics than i have.


Dean