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Does anybody happen to have any really good views of the inboard side of the ventral fins? There's no shortage of views of the outboard side, and there's a few half-hearted views of the side I want, but that's it...in all my books AND online. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! :-)

Edited by TomcatFanatic123
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They aren't "handed". What you see on the outside of the port strake is the same thing you'll see on the inside of the starboard strake, and vice versa.

They are indeed "handed".

There is an access panel on the inboard side of each fin for the lower comm blade antennas, which are inside each ventral fin. Thus, one panel is on the smooth side of the fin, while the other fin has its panel on the side with the NACA scoop.

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Here's a shot I took from our CAG Fallon det in 2005, with the port inboard ventral fin in it... Note the antenna access panel. These things fit like crap, and were often VERY roughly sealed. Lots of the screws had skin washers on them, too.

100_0111_zpsr28id5ea.jpg

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Here you go. More from my personal walk arounds of a few F-14's.

Inside of port ventral fin:

F-14%20port%20ventral%20fin019_zpsuxc8n4uf.jpg

Inside of starboard ventral fin:

F-14%20starboard%20ventral%20fin020_zpslxzdxyrp.jpg

These are great shots! Some squadrons would keep some or all of the panel bare fiberglass to aid the antenna reception. Especially as you see above with the black-painted ventral fins. The additional paint makes a huge (negative) difference in the transmit and receive range, and with the antennas already being buried in the fins, at the low point for fuel, hyd fluid, and oil to collect, some jets needed all the help they could get.

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They are indeed "handed".

There is an access panel on the inboard side of each fin for the lower comm blade antennas, which are inside each ventral fin. Thus, one panel is on the smooth side of the fin, while the other fin has its panel on the side with the NACA scoop.

I had forgotten about that panel. I was just looking through some pictures to post and saw that. I came on to fix my post, and you guys had already gotten here. Thanks for the correction!

Here's a picture looking up inside the NACA vent.

5174203_orig.jpg

Edited by Darren Roberts
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