Vought F-8 Crusader

Vought · United States · first flew 1955 · fighter

A single-engine US Navy carrier fighter of the 1950s, famous as the last American fighter designed with guns as its primary armament.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, swept
E — Engines	1 × turbojet, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	Slim single-engine fuselage tapering to a conventional swept tail
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Single high-mounted swept wing with a variable-incidence pivot at the root
Chin air intake under a long pointed nose
Slim single-engine fuselage tapering to a conventional swept tail

Look for the high shoulder-mounted swept wing that hinges upward at the root, the chin intake beneath a sharp nose, and the lean single-engine tail end.

Specifications

The Vought F-8 Crusader has a length of 16.6 m (54 ft).
It has a wingspan of 10.7 m (35 ft).
Its maximum speed is 1975 km/h (1227 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 1955, the Crusader introduced a distinctive variable-incidence wing that raised its angle of attack for low carrier-approach speeds without pitching the fuselage up. It became the Navy's premier day fighter and a hard-fought gunfighter over Vietnam, where it also flew an unarmed photo-reconnaissance role.

Variants

Major versions ran from the F-8A through the definitive F-8E, with RF-8 photo-reconnaissance aircraft and rebuilt later-life airframes; France operated navalised F-8E(FN) examples for decades.

Where you'll see it

A US Navy and US Marine Corps carrier type never based in Britain, so it was not a UK sight in service; preserved examples appear in museums and the type is essentially absent from current British airshow line-ups.

Related aircraft

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