# Name for front-intake design type



## MarkinTex (Feb 25, 2019)

Hi everyone, I joined this forum because I couldn't find an answer for a question I've long had, and thought this group might be able to answer. Is there a name for the first generation - early second generation fuselage layout where the jet intake takes up the entire nose of the aircraft? Like the Mig-15, Mig-17, F-84, F-86, F-100, X-5, etc.? My older brother, who was an avid model builder when we were kids, had built models of F-84F, F-86, and F-100, and called all of them and any planes like them "saber jets", I guess because of the names for the F-86 and F-100, but I was wondering if there was a shorthand name for this type of layout?


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## swampyankee (Feb 25, 2019)

nose inlets


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## GreenKnight121 (Feb 28, 2019)

Or "nose intake".

Some aircraft with a nose intake and two engines, like the MiG-19, have a "splitter plate" inside the nose intake to separate the airflow into two equal-sized ducts, to feed each engine separately.

A nose intake with a central body (with or without a radar dish inside) as in the EE Lightning and MiG-21 is called a front air intake with shock cone (or "conical centerbody"), which also helps reduce the speed of the air entering the intake ducting so as to reduce/prevent compressor stall at supersonic speeds.

For aircraft with a small radome above the front intake, like the F-86D/L, F-8, A-7, etc, the term is "chin-type intake".

The F-16's is called a "ventral intake", because it is behind the cockpit - the intake has to be in front of the cockpit to be a "chin" intake.

If the intake is on the sides, but in front of the cockpit as with the F-102, they are "cheek" intakes - and "side" intakes if beside/behind the cockpit (whether above the wing as with the F-106, A-4, Mirage III, etc, or below the wing as with the A-5, F-14, F/A-18, MiG-15, Mirage V, etc).

"Wing-root" intakes are found on the RF-84F, F9F Panther/Cougar, F-105, etc. The F-15 is considered to have "side" intakes, because they are not an integral part of the wing leading edge.

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## jetcal1 (Feb 28, 2019)

A nose inlet is a form of a pitot intake.


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## MarkinTex (Mar 1, 2019)

Wow, thank you GreenKnight, that is excellent information, exactly what I was looking for and then some!


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## Graeme (Mar 2, 2019)



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## swampyankee (Mar 3, 2019)

One difference between pitot inlets and nose inlets is that supersonic pitot inlets rely on normal shocks to decelerate supersonic flow to subsonic speed; other types of intakes use oblique shocks. Pitot inlets are usually limited to lower subsonic speeds because they're quite inefficient

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## jetcal1 (Mar 3, 2019)

swampyankee said:


> One difference between pitot inlets and nose inlets is that supersonic pitot inlets rely on normal shocks to decelerate supersonic flow to subsonic speed; other types of intakes use oblique shocks. Pitot inlets are usually limited to lower subsonic speeds because they're quite inefficient


Agree, however, it does depend on the internal diverters and, or how the shockwave is designed to act. The F-16 inlet is indeed also a fixed geometry pitot intake. (Straight shock.) fixed inlets must be optimized for one particular "regime" of supersonic flight. If I remember correctly the "scandal" relating to the F-16 was that it was optimized for 1.6 in a time right after everyone was concerned about the MiG-25. I'm sure there might be some fixed geometry oblique shockwave inlets out there (diverterless?) but, all of the ones I am aware of were designed to have a moving part that optimized the shockwaves at all speeds.


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