The Vought F-8 Crusader Was The US Navy’s Last Traditional Dogfighting Jet
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Marketed as ‘Last of the Gunfighters’ and nicknamed the ‘Gator’ by ship deck crews, the Vought F-8 Crusader (F8U before 1962) was the US Navy’s first supersonic, carrier based fighter*. Taking advantage of a ‘coke bottle’ fuselage profile typical of late 1950s jet fighters, the Crusader outperformed the US Air Force’s F-100 Super Sabre in almost every respect even though they both used the same J57 engine. While US Navy and Marine Corps Crusaders were best known for jousting with North Vietnamese MiG fighters and lashing communist ground targets, unarmed reconnaissance RF-8s helped prevent World War III during the Cuban Missile Crisis prior to their participation in the Southeast Asian theatre. Despite its popularity with American naval aviators, the Crusader was steadily supplanted by the rival F-4 Phantom II and only exported in modest quantities to two foreign users.
