Help with an aircraft ID

ProPatriaMori

I live in Houston by Johnson Space Center so I see all kind of stuff coming in and out of NASA's Ellington Field and also flying out of Lone Star Flight Museum out of Galveston. Typically I've either known ahead of time what's flying around or been able to figure it out, but this one that just flew over my place has me stumped. Unfortunately it didn't show up on FlightAware, and now I'm kind of at a loss since I only saw it for about 20 seconds.

- It was vaguely reminiscent of a Blackburn Bucaneer: similar wing placement, definite T-tail, similar canopy location and shape, similar nose shape. I'm thinking it's from basically the same time period.

- Wing leading edge seemed unusual--I could swear the sweep curved back from the root then back straighter again toward the tip. Almost like this graph. There were two protrusions underwing about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way out that looked like they might be fixed external tanks.

- Wing trailing edge looked straight or pretty low sweep.

- Looked like a single jet exhaust under the tail. I think the stabilizer section overhung the nozzle. I don't clearly recall the intake geometry, might've been either side at the wing root?

Really appreciate any help with this. It tooks me months to find the Almirante Brown class destroyers after I first saw pictures of them and that drove me bonkers.

BlindZenDriver

Perhaps a F9F or a F10F?

ProPatriaMori

Wing shape is wrong for the F9F, I think, though it looks similar... It looks like none of the F10F hulls fly anymore. Fuselage/empennage look similar though.

Actually, hmm. I wonder if it was here for the airshow just recently. Going to start looking to see if anyone has posted pictures from that.

rocketshipready

Maybe an F16? They fly out of Ellington Field, and have a similar planform to the Buccaneer

xraydog

F-101 maybe? Although that's a twin engine.

ProPatriaMori

F-101 is similar but I could swear the trailing edge was unswept and as you noted it's a twin. I may have it screwed up in my head though. I only briefly caught it from the front and then it was overhead, which is why I'm mostly relying on wing shape.

Wing root intakes would probably account for why the wing shape looked so weird.

Definitely not an F-16. What I saw had a T-tail, not cruciform, the horizontal stabs weren't big enough, way wrong wing shape. I can recognize those. Really don't think it was newer than Vietnam era just based on the shape.

Mushiwulf

F-4 Phantom?

matt has a problem

Going out on a limb here.



That's an F-16XL prototype. According to Wiki NASA is currently testing them.

Phisti

Your description with a high T-tail, s-wing front profile and nose area makes me think of the F2H Banshee - it's a twin engine though, although they are concealed in the wing base. That or the F9F / F10F are the closest I can think of based on what you've told us.

ProPatriaMori

Certainly not an F-4, Mushiwulf. I've actually seen one over here before I think and I was confused as hell as to why it was here and why it was flying at all. I can explain the occasional B-25, but not that...actually, Wikipedia tells me the Collings Foundation runs it. I'll be damned.

Matthas: definitely no. I wish I'd get to see one in person, definitely one of my favorite aircraft. I need to get out to Dryden sometime.

Phisti, I don't think so, though it and the F9F have come closest so far . The memory is fading but I think the span was shorter.

With that in mind, and now that I've looked a bit at the disposition of the aircraft at the airshow, I think I might've seen an A-4 and gotten the wing leading edge shape wrong for some reason. The droptanks are in the right place, tail shape is kind of right though there's no overhang. Can't figure out why I thought the leading edge was so weird if that's what I saw though...

TychoCelchuuu

Phisti

From below and infront I can see how the Skyhawk's large air intakes could make the leading wing edge look S-shaped, although the swerve would be much more severe than thought. Also the way the engine is located there is a small tail extension over the engines in some variants.

Mushiwulf

Yeah, I think I had misunderstood your description of the wing edge, but after seeing Phisti's picture in post 9, I understood. Sorry it wasn't an F-4, I love those planes!

Harakhti

Was it a F104 Starfighter?

Wasn't a F5 Tiger was it? I love this game...

I grew up in Vegas near Ellis AFB. We'd always get to watch Thunderbolts, Falcons, Eagles flying around. Was awesome.

Also got to see the Thunderbirds practicing quite a bit.

Fizban140

I just got out of the air force, I have seen a lot of aircraft and I have no idea what you are describing, an F-4 maybe but I really don't know.

By T wing you mean horizontal stabilizers I am guessing, that narrows it down quite a bit. Single engine (as far as I know, exaust=engine, on all aircraft I have seen), ? intakes, ? seats, do you remember any colors or tail designators?