@ Fort Worth, TX
February 2008
A Crusader restored by the volunteers of the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation. The F8U was the last American fighter aircraft with guns as the primary weapon, earning it the title “The Last of the Gunfighters”. Introduced in 1957, the type served until 1987 with the US Navy and as late as 1999 with the French Navy. Two of these YF-8C (re-engined F8U-1s) were used for flight testing the J57-P-16 turbojet. This view shows the folded outboard wing section which reduced the 35 ft wingspan to 22 ft for handling onboard a aircraft carrier deck. There are at least eight documented incidents where F-8s took off with wings folded, but landed without any mishap thanks to ailerons located inboard of the wing-fold point. Vought’s design team pre-dated knowledge of area ruling, but came up with a design so right that the F8U flew fully supersonic without the need for the “coke-bottle” fuselage forced on other supersonic aircraft. After adoption of the Tri-Service aircraft designation system in September 1962, the F8U became the F-8. Nikon D70 w/14-24mm.