First I apologize for not getting pics but I am hoping you all can help me identify the plane. I was driving home today and a truck had a plane on it that was missing wings, tail and the nose cone. It was wrapped in tarps but the shape was visible. It had normal landing gear...one in front and two wider in the back. It had air intake on the sides right around the cockpit area. The overall shape reminded me of a mix between an a6 intruder and a t38. Thought it looked kind of like a harrier but the landing gear was wrong. So any guesses?

Sorry, too vague for me. I'd suggest googling up some aircraft photos and see which one fits what you saw. Off the top of my head, intakes like that can be on the a/c you mention, or also an A-4 Skyhawk or t45 goshawk

Thanks for the suggestions Have to do more looking at it.

So after this driving me crazy I think it was a Dassault Mirage F1. If you take the wings, tail, and nose cone off the lines and landing gear are almost spot on. With the rigid refuel arm and I think I have my winner

Definitely an oddball.

Kinda looks like an intruder and a t38 had a kid. LOL

What about an F8 Crusader?

Intake is in the wrong place. This one had rounded intakes on the sides.

I once spent the night at a motel in Willcox, AZ with one of these disassembled on a truck in the parking lot:

F104 starfighter?

Yep

OP, where was this? Interesting to see an old French fighter in the U.S.

It was on 35e going through Dallas

Eta: with Lockheed being big in the area i looked through their planes and did not see one that matched. The closest i thought was the T50 but its landing gear are not right and the intakes seemed off

A4 Skyraider?



Israeli F21 Kfir??

Could be. But the refueling arm seems off from what I saw. Can't tell on the landing gear. The plane I saw the landing gear were different from other jets I'd seen.

Could this be it? It's very interesting.

Holy Crap!!! Has to be it!! That would explain why one would be going up 35.

ETA: I never thought I would actually get confirmation of what I thought it was. But that is kinda cool to see I was not out of my mind.

The Israeli F-21 Kfir in the photo I posted above is also owned by the same company (ATAC). Outsourced aggressor forces--interesting concept.

That's gotta be a pretty sweet job. All the awesomeness of being a fighter pilot, without the need to put up with daily shaving, uniforms regs, paperwork, and more paperwork.

They've delivered them all to Fort Worth Alliance.

I would think they would only target getting a couple dozen or so up to flying status, the rest for spares. It will be fun seeing them above DFW occasionally, hopefully in a non-French paint scheme. For the $7.5 billion 10-year contract, Textron should have the funds to spiff them up quite a bit.

If I can add to this thread, someone in Amarillo caught an unusual sight. Apparently, the 737 Max-8 fuselage is built on the east coast, and shipped by train to Boeing in Washington. Normally they take a more northern route, but flooding in the Midwest forced the trains south. Thus the photos below, which I hope show up from Facebook.

They are built by Spirit Aerosystems, a Boeing spin off, in Wichita, KS. Every complete 737 has been built there. Neat place.

It is always fascinating to me to see oddball stuff being shipped. My favorites since i was a kid are trains carrying military vehicles