Vought F-8 Crusader ( BOOK )

Description:

Planes and Pilots; Paloque.

When it built the Crusader, the US Navy's first supersonic aircraft, Vought repeated the success it had had with the legendary F4U Corsair. This fighter with its unusual variable incidence wing, made its maiden flight in March 1955 and equipped more than seventy Navy and Marine Corps squadrons during its thirty year career. The Crusader distinguished itself during the Vietnam War in which it scored eighteen confirmed kills, more than half of the Navy's total of kills for the whole of the conflict, earning it the unofficial title of 'MiGMaster'. Nicknamed the 'Last Gunfighter', (for its internally mounted 20mm cannons) finished its career in the US in the Reserve units during the late eighties. France, the only export client except for the Philippines, had Crusaders specially designed to operate from its small aircraft carriers, and the Aéronavale’s last ‘Crouze’, and thereby the last F-8 in the world, was withdrawn from service in October 1999; 84 pages.