Osprey Combat Aircraft 7 : F-8 Crusader Units of the Vietnam War

Known to its pilots as the 'last of the gunfighters' due to its quartet of Colt-Browning Mk 12 20 mm cannon [its great naval rival, the F-4 Phantom II, was armed exclusively with missiles], the F-8 Crusader was numerically the most populous fighter in the US Navy at the start of America's involvement in the Vietnam conflict in 1964 - some 482 F-8C/D/Es equipped 17 frontline units. It enjoyed great success against North Vietnamese MiG-17s and MiG-21s during the Rolling Thunder campaign of 1965-68, officially downing 18 jets, which represented 53 per cent of all MiG claims lodged by Navy squadrons during this period. The Crusader also became a 'bomb truck' in war, with both ship-based US Navy units and land-based USMC squadrons pounding communist forces in both North and South Vietnam. A number of notable F-8 pilots have been interviewed specially for this book, which includes colour profiles for 16 of the 18 'MiG killers'. This book is the first of two in the Combat Aircraft series devoted to the Crusader, the second book [again by Peter Mersky] covering the RF-8 reconnaissance variants, and their hazardous missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the Vietnam war. Text by Peter Mersky with illustrations by Tom Tullis.

Contents

• First Engagement
• Setting Things Up
• Making a War
• Action in the Tonkin Gulf
• War Begins in Ernest
• MiG Killers
• Assessing the Enemy
• Beyond the MiGs
• 'Leatherneck' Crusaders 1965-68
• Final Word