Modelers, if you look at the first pic below, you will see an air sccop. In the second picture, you will see where the air collected in that scoope exits. It’s the two tubes at the top of the last frame shown. This particular aircraft is a MIG-21. Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the scoops are? There are other various scoops in this area that i can’t see to follow where the air is going on the inside.
Thanks.


Generally speaking scoops like that are routed to particular places on the engine for cooling or as an air intake for things air conditioning or heater, cockpit ventilation and so on. Seeing where these are, I would probably say engine cooling.
Eagle’s right. And if you have one or, more commonly, a pair, close to the aft end of the fuselage, you’re probably looking at the afterburner cooling scoops, as on the the Thud, where they are very prominent. I’m always a little amused at how the Soviets could start out with a sleek airplane with elegant, clean lines, and by the time it had been through three or four upgrades, the craft looked like a hunchback toad with all its lumps and bumps and scoops hanging out in the slipstream. This certainly is true of the Mig-21.