I honestly have no idea why (besides how the plane looks compared to the mig-19) but I thought for the longest time the f-100 was a twin engine aircraft (or at least was originally designed for twin engines).
So what would the f-100 have actually looked like if it was a twin engine? Where there even any engines at the time small enough to fit two were the j-57 was (with 2 tail pipes obviously)?
Cjc -
I’m gonna offer my opinion that the design would be untenable, if the end result is intended to be a single fuselage aircraft w/ 2 engines mounted internally.
An F-100 platform wing on a fuselage that features 2 aft-mounted external engines =
a “ SabreLiner “, including even the automatic-deploying LE flaps.
Let’s look @ other U.S. MIL aircraft contemporaries:
For an oblique comparison of U.S. aircraft of a period overlapping the early F-100, one can look @ the F7U. Even with its comparatively small diameter engines, the F7Us aft fuselage is still of notable width. The F7U aft fuselage also resembles the Gloster Javeline aft fuselage… another MIL jet aircraft ( albeit British ) from the mid 1950’s.
The F-89 Scorpion had engines mounted arguably in side sponsons and not classically inside of the fuselage. The F-101 Voodoo ( another F-100 contemporary ) mounted a significant length of its 2 engines within aft located semi-conical “ blisters “, that were in-essence located outside of the fuselage mold line proper. This arrangement was cleaned up in the design of the successor McDonnell F-4 Phantom, to position the rotating machinery of the engines fully within the fuselage.
The use of 2 engines on your hypothetical aircraft would perhaps resemble more… Lockheed’s XF-90 configuration, wherein the 2 engine air intakes independently feed
1 engine each. This experimental aircraft was notably wide across its mid and aft fuselage areas. It was known to be under powered, like the McDonnell FH Phantom, F2H Banshee, Vought F7U Cutlass, and Northrop F-89. I don’t think the twin engine air intakes ” F-100 “ derivative you describe would have benefitted from a single whopping engine inlet bifurcated to feed 2 engines.
These earlier age twin engine jet aircraft were before too long… exceeded in their performance by more modern single engine designs that featured more installed thrust.
A notional twin engine F-100 that featured a fuselage that could be parted right at the aft flap juncture ( like the actual F-100 did ) would have an aft “ boat tail “ nearly as wide as a cabin cruiser. Maybe that’s why they call it a “ boat tail “. The trailer to hold the boat tail when removed to allow engine(s) changes would likewise be prettty wide itself.
The F-100 operated successfully using a single J-57, and had great performance without having to double-up on engine count to get it.
With regards,
357Mag
