Ask anything Thread (Air Force)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
What is this surface called and its purpose?
Ventral fins. Maintain stability at high AOA.
One possible cue I discovered could be the original Weibo post by @Oneninety, which was later quote-posted by Cute Orca with the caption "今天还是某机首飞一天纪念".
In particular, this one:
With the caption "歼11B首飞二十周年", i.e. "The 20th anniversary of the first flight of the J-11B".
One of the comments underneath the original post by @Oneninety mentioned that this photograph was taken at Yanliang, which is one of the nine districts of Xi'an. The "Flight Testing Institute" marking on the J-11B too correlates this.
Plus, under the Cute Orca's quote-post, one of the comments stated "昨夜晚间，西飞有神秘机型飞了", i.e. "last night, a mystery aircraft model flew at Xi'an AC" - Without the "doge" emoji that could suggest that the comment is meant to be a joke (which also applies to Cute Orca's quote-post). However, unlike Cute Orca, it should be noted that I am unable to verify this person's background and his/her reliability.
Also, I'm unable to confirm whether Cute Orca is actually implying that the "test flight of a certain new aircraft" actually took place in Xi'an, nor was I able to confirm whether Cute Orca is implying that said "certain new aircraft" is related to Xi'an AC. Hence, kindly take the above information with a pinch of salt.
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(Sorry for quoting myself, and as I'm way beyond the 1-hour edit window, I've got to post a new entry.)
Just to mention that I eventually found the book and that I can provide excerpts, for research and scholarship purposes, in the Fair Use spirit.
I asked around a bit and from what I got by now is, the term can be translated best as „yesterday something made maiden/first test flight“. As such it is indeed a hint for an anniversary but one of only one day!
Also hiding the engine nozzle from the sides on J-20 in the IR spectrum and most likely from radar. Round nozzle are hard to hide from the sides.
You could have asked us.
You could have asked us.
I did! … but actually I got onyx two replies … sorry and I hope thsi „interpretation“ is not wrong, even if it still does not tells us what made its maiden flight.