Vought F8U Crusader
The Vought F8U Crusader — redesignated F-8 in 1962 — was a single-seat, supersonic carrier fighter built by Chance Vought for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and the last American fighter designed with guns as its primary weapon. Its two-position variable-incidence wing let it exceed 1,000 mph yet still land aboard carriers, and 1,261 were built: 1,072 fighters and 144 photo-reconnaissance aircraft for the U.S. services, and 42 F-8E(FN)s for the French Navy. Photo Crusaders photographed the Soviet missile sites in Cuba in 1962, and over Vietnam the type was credited with 18 MiG victories against three air-combat losses. France, the last operator, retired its fighters in December 1999; the Philippines had flown second-hand F-8Hs until 1991.
Why It Mattered
The Crusader was designed in 1953 to a U.S. Navy request for a supersonic day fighter, at a moment when carrier jets were growing fast in the air yet still had to return aboard ship at low speed. It became the first carrier-based jet fighter to exceed 1,000 mph, and the conception, design and development of the type earned Chance Vought and the Navy a joint Collier Trophy. Pilots knew it as the "Last of the Gunfighters", a nickname it received on introduction because it was built around internal cannon armament while other fighters were moving exclusively to air-to-air missiles. Vintage Aviation News calls it the most successful American fighter of the Vietnam War's early days, and its photo-reconnaissance variant had already made America's first low-altitude flights over Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis.
Design Notes
The design's signature was a two-position variable-incidence wing, pivoted at its rear spar so that the whole wing could be raised seven degrees for takeoff and landing. Raising the wing increased its angle of attack while the fuselage stayed level, giving the lift needed at approach speed and a clear view of the deck. The entire leading edge and the ailerons could also be lowered, increasing the wing's camber and reducing approach and landing speed further. The outer wing tips folded for carrier storage, and titanium was used as much as possible in the airframe's construction. A single Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet with afterburner powered the aircraft. Armament centred on four 20 mm cannon, and the type was also fitted for rockets and missiles.
Operational History
The prototype XF8U-1, flown by John Konrad, made its first flight on 25 March 1955 and went supersonic on that maiden flight. In August 1956 a production Crusader set a national speed record of 1,015.428 mph. The type began entering Navy and Marine fighter squadrons in 1957, reaching regular Navy operations that March. In July 1957, Marine Major John H. Glenn Jr. flew a photo-reconnaissance F8U-1P across the United States, making the first transcontinental crossing faster than sound. Production was substantial: the Navy procured 1,072 F8U fighters besides the two prototypes, 144 photo-reconnaissance F8U-1Ps were built, and 1,261 Crusaders were produced in all. Redesignated F-8 in the 1962 designation change, the type's photo variant began, on 23 October 1962, the first American low-altitude reconnaissance flights over Cuba, at the height of the missile crisis. In Vietnam the Crusader flew strike and combat air patrol missions throughout the war; Vintage Aviation News credits it with shooting down 18 enemy aircraft against three of its own lost in air combat, a kill ratio of 6:1. France bought 42 F-8E(FN) Crusaders for its carriers Clemenceau and Foch, and the Philippine Air Force bought 35 second-hand F-8Hs in 1977. The last American fighters were retired from active squadrons in 1976, but the photo Crusaders served on with reserve squadrons until the last of them, VFP-206, was disbanded on 29 March 1987. The French Navy's Crusaders, the last active F-8s anywhere, stayed in front-line carrier service until the Rafale replaced them in 2000, their fighter retirement falling in December 1999.
Afterlife
The first prototype survives: XF8U-1 BuNo 138899, the aircraft John Konrad flew on the type's first flight, is held by the Museum of Flight in Seattle. The Navy had gifted it to the Smithsonian, which kept it in storage and then loaned it to Seattle; the loan became a gift in 2004. Its restoration began in 1996, and the museum unveiled it in March 2015, at a celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the first flight. The National Air and Space Museum displays the opposite bookend: RF-8G BuNo 146860, the last operational Navy F-8, transferred from squadron VFP-206 on 30 March 1987 and now on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. No U.S. Navy Crusader accumulated more flying time than this one: it ended its career with 7,475.2 hours in the air. Other retired Crusaders spent their final years stored at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, and further examples remain on display, among them an F-8H at the Philippine Air Force Aerospace Museum.