| VF-194 flying off the "USS Ticonderoga. USMC Gen. Drax Williams
in his F-8 Crusader - often called the "Gunfighter" - goes after a pair of
MiG-21s during an
A-6 Intruder escort mission.
With the highest kill ratio of any Navy aircraft
during the Vietnam conflict, the F-8 Crusader became known as the "MiG Master"
supersonic fighter.
U.S. Marines F-8E Crusader
Fighting Shamrocks or Red Devils.
F-8J Crusader - a
U.S. Navy carrier-based fighter
that saw nearly two decades of service - that fought in the Vietnam War,
Interviews with 16 of the 17 living Crusader
pilots who became MiG killers over Vietnam, (This was Written in 2007)
F-8's three-decade operational service
Known by its pilots as the "last of the
gunfighters" due to its Colt-Browning Mk 12 20mm cannon, the F-8 Crusader was
the most populous fighter in the U.S. Navy at the start of America's involvement
in Vietnam. The F-8 enjoyed great success against North Vietnamese MiGs,
F-8E Crusader of Cmdr. Harold "Hal" Marr along
with his wing man, Lt.(JG) Phil Vampatella, as they make a high speed, low level
victory fly-by alongside the deck of the
USS Hancock on June 12, 1966. The
Crusaders of VF 211, known as the Checkmates, achieved the admirable record of
being the highest scoring F-8 Squadron of the Vietnam War. 32
The F-8 the Navy's last fighter to use cannon as its
primary weapon system.
Follow the development and
operational service of "the last of the gunfighters," the F-8 Crusader and its
variants in this look at the last U.S. fighter designed with guns as its primary
weapons.
U.S. Navy's first supersonic aircraft, the F-8
Crusader, from design and construction in the early 1950s, through John Glenn's
1957 record-breaking flight across the U.S. in three hours and 23 minutes and
its service in Vietnam where it scored the highest kill ratio of any U.S.
fighter aircraft, to its 1986 Navy retirement,
Commander James B. Stockdale in his F-8 Crusader leads
the first American air strike against North Vietnam in an attack on the oil
facilities at Vinh, August 5, Although
the Crusader was built first and foremost as a Navy interceptor, as has often
been the tradition with U.S. fighters, a photo-reconnaissance variant was also
produced by Vought. Ace fighter jocks
Paul Speer and Phil Wood in the U.S. Navy's F8 Crusader as they tackle North
Vietnamese MiGs over the killing skies of Vietnam.
How urgently
President John F. Kennedy required
intelligence to end the Cuban Missile Crisis and how a single machine - the RF-8
Crusader - came through with the low-altitude reconnaissance he needed to take
action. |
