The Vought F-8 Crusader Was The US Navy’s Last Traditional Dogfighting Jet

Au-Yeong Soong-Kong
Nov 4 · 15 min read

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…

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Au-Yeong Soong-Kong

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Concerned third party occasionally writing on small arms, armour and aviation who’s branching out.

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