[aerohead]

the boattail cone doubled the glide of the Enterprise when dropped over Edward's AFB.Also,when it has to land at Edward's,they always use the cone when ferrying it back to Florida on the 747.Since the 747 consumes a gallon of fuel in less than a body-length,the lesson of the boattails boost in mpg was not lost on the rocket-scientists in charge of the program.