Subject: New Fighter Series--Vought F-8 Crusader (17 of 18)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 19:29:04 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The first squadron to receive the F8U-1 was VX-3, which received its 
first planes in December of 1956.  The first fleet squadron to get the 
Crusader was VF-32 based at NAS Cecil Field, which got its first 
planes in March of 1957.  It was followed shortly thereafter by VF-154 
and VF(AW)-3, then VF-211, VF-142, and VF-143.  

The Marine Corps squadron VMF-122 took their first Crusaders on 
strength in December of 1957.  It was soon followed by VMF-312, 333, 
and 334.  

The first carrier deployment of the Crusader was aboard the USS 
*Hancock* (CVA-19) with VF-194 in the Pacific.  The first Atlantic 
deployment was with VF-32 aboard the USS *Saratoga*.  

The first operational deployment of the Crusader was during the Marine 
amphibious landing in Lebanon in July of 1958.  VF-32 flew its new 
F8U-2s from the carrier USS *Saratoga* patrolling over the eastern 
Mediterranean.  There was no opposition, and the Crusaders had no need 
to fire their weapons in anger.  The *Forrestal*, with the F8U-2s of 
VMF-333 aboard, relieved the *Saratoga* in September.  

The first Navy squadron to deploy with the F8U-1P was VFP-61, which 
first received its planes in September of 1957.  They deployed aboard 
the USS *Midway* (CVA-41) later that year.  

The RF-8A flew many dangerous reconnaissance missions over Cuba during 
the Missile Crisis of October 1962.  These missions were carried out 
by Navy squadron VFP-62 and Marine squadron VMCJ-2 which were 
stationed at NAS Cecil Field near Jacksonville, Florida.  These planes 
provided key evidence of the presence of missiles in Cuba.  The RF-8As 
flew two flights daily from NAS Key West with low-level, high speed 
dashes over Cuba, then landing at NAS Jacksonville.  

Even before the Gulf of Tonkin incident of August 1964, RF-8As of 
VFP-62 began flying low-level reconnaissance runs over Laos.  On the 
morning of May 21, 1964, two RF-8As flying off the USS *Kitty Hawk* 
(CVA-63) were fired on by antiaircraft gunners, and one plane was hit.  
However, this plane (flown by Lt Charles F. Klusmann) was able to 
return safely to its carrier.  The *Bon Homme Richard* (CVA-31) with 
three more RF-8As plus four Marine RF-8As later joined the cruise.  On 
June 6, Lt Klusmann's plane was hit again by ground fire, but this 
time the damage was so severe that he was forced to eject, his plane 
being the first Crusader lost to enemy action.  Lt Klusmann was 
captured by the Pathet Lao, but was able to escape three months later.  

On June 6, the same day that Klusmann was shot down, another mission 
was flown over Laos in which two RF-8As were provided with fighter 
escorts.  On June 7, a single RF-8A from the USS *Constellation* 
(CVA-64) was escorted by four F-8Ds from VF-111 based on the USS 
*Kitty Hawk* (CVA-63).  They were fired upon by heavy flak, and the 
F-8D escorts responded with cannon fire and rockets, firing the first 
US shots of what was become America's longest war.  A second mission 
that day over central Laos involved one RF-8A and three F-8 fighter 
escorts.  Commander Foyle W. Linn's escorting Crusader was hit by 
flak and he was forced to eject.  He was picked up by helicopter the 
next day.  

American involvement in the Vietnam war rapidly escalated after the 
Gulf of Tonkin incidents of August 1964.  There were actually two such 
incidents.  On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS *Maddox* was attacked 
by North Vietnamese torpedo boats while cruising near the North 
Vietnamese island of Hon Me.  The USS *Ticonderoga* (CVA-14) sent four 
F-8Es from VF-51 and VF-53 in response to the call for help.  The 
F-8Es were armed with Zuni rockets and cannon.  The North Vietnamese 
torpedo boats fired back, hitting one Crusader and forcing it to make 
an emergency landing at Da Nang.  The VF-51 F-8Es led by Commander 
James Stockdale attacked two PT boats and the two VF-53 Crusaders hit 
a single PT boat and set it on fire.  

A year later, Commander Stockdale was shot down in an A-4 in a mission 
over North Vietnam.  He was taken prisoner and spent over 7 years in 
captivity.  He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic 
resistance during his incarceration.  Stockdale later became Ross 
Perot's running mate during the 1992 Presidential campaign.  

A second North Vietnamese torpedo boat attack supposedly took place on 
the night of August 4, 1964, this time against both the *Maddox* and 
the *Turner Joy*.  This incident is still controversial to this day, 
and it is not at all certain that it actually took place.  
Nevertheless, it led to a massive American involvement in Vietnam 
which was to last nine years and was to cost 50,000 American lives.  

On August 5, President Lyndon Johnson ordered a retaliatory strike 
against North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases.  Aircraft from the 
*Constellation* (CVA-64) and the *Ticonderoga* (CVA-14) took part in 
the action.  The strike package was made up of A-4 and A-1 bombers, 
F-8 escorts, and RF-8As.  No Crusaders were lost, but two bombers were 
destroyed.  

As the buildup of American forces progressed, F-8s served on every 
carrier in the South China Sea at least in the reconnaissance role.  
On the smaller 27C-class and *Midway*-class carriers (*Midway* 
(CVA-41), *Coral Sea* (CVA-43), and Franklin D.  Roosevelt (CVA-42)), 
they served in the fighter role as well.  

Following a Viet Cong attack on American and South Vietnamese 
facilities in February of 1965, a program of regular bombing raids 
against North Vietnam--known as Operation *Rolling Thunder*-- began in 
earnest.  

During the early phase of the Vietnam war, the primarily role of the 
Crusader was that of reconnaissance, with fighters going along for 
escort.  The fighters would occasionally deliver Zuni rockets against 
selected ground targets.  VFP-63 detachments, along with Marine Corp 
RF-8s of VMCJ-1 performed the greatest service.  

As North Vietnamese anti-aircraft defenses became more intense and 
effective, fighter F-8s flew frequent flak suppression missions.  They 
would fly in partnership with A-4 Skyhawks.  The A-4s would attack SAM 
sites with AGM-45A Shrike missiles, and the F-8s would follow the 
Shrikes to the target, wait for missile impact, then open up with 
Zunis and cannon fire.  However, this technique did not always work, 
since the North Vietnamese soon learned to spoof the Shrike missile by 
turning off their radar sets.  

During the war, 42 Navy F-8s and 20 RF-8s and 12 Marine F-8s were lost 
to flak and small arms fire over Vietnam.  SAMs accounted for 10 Navy 
Crusaders.  All twenty of the reconnaissance Crusaders from VFP-63 and 
all twelve of the reconnaissance Crusaders from VMCJ-1 lost in action 
were downed by flak or by SAMs, with none being lost to MiGs.  At 
least three Navy Crusaders were lost to MiGs, all of them being the 
F-8E fighter version.  

It was to be in air-to-air combat against North Vietnamese fighters 
that the Crusader was to gain its reputation as "MiG Master".  The 
first encounter with North Vietnamese MiGs took place in early April 
of 1965.  On that occasion, the MiGs only damaged one F-8, but they 
shot down two F-105s the next day.  The first confirmed Navy kills 
came on July 17, 1965, when two F-4Bs from VF-21 shot down a pair of 
MiG-17s.  The Crusader got its first MiG kill on June 12, 1966, when 
Cmdr Harold L.  Marr of VF-211 shot down a MiG-17 while escorting an 
A-4 strike against targets in the North.  

On October 9, 1966, Commander Dick Bellinger, skipper of VF-162, shot 
down a North Vietnamese MiG-21, scoring the first Navy victory over 
the newer, more advanced MiG.  At that time, Cmdr Bellinger was 42 
years old, and had fought in both World War 2 and Korea.  He had also 
been shot down once before himself, as indicated below.  

May of 1967 was a particularly busy month for the Crusader crews.  
They participated in a number of large raids, and the MiGs were up in 
strength and active.  On May 1, LtCdr M.  O.  Wright of VF-211 shot 
down one of three MiG-17s that were attacking an A-4.  On May 19, an 
A-4/F-8 "Iron Hand" strike against SAM and flak positions encountered 
stiff MiG opposition.  Pilots from VF-24 and VF-211 got four MiGs that 
day, as against one F-8E from VF-211 being downed by a SAM.  

Four MiG-17s were downed by VF-24 and VF-211 Crusaders on July 21, 
1967.  

On June 26, 1968, an F-8H flown by Cmdr L. R. Myers, skipper of 
VF-51, shot down a MiG-21, scoring the first kill for the H-version 
of the Crusader. 

For a time, the Crusader was the leading MiG-killer over Vietnam, 
accounting for a total of 18 confirmed victories.  All of them 
occurred within a two-year span (1966-1968), and after that all Navy 
MiG kills were by Phantoms.  

The last Crusader MiG kill took place on September 19, 1968, when Lt 
Anthony Nargi of VF-111's Det II destroyed a MiG-21.  

All of the Crusader MiG kills (with the possible exception of two or 
three) were made by the Sidewinder air-to-air missile.  There were 
only two "guns-only" MiG kills by Crusader pilots.  The cannon 
armament of the Crusader proved to be somewhat troublesome, and the 
guns would frequently jam.  During rapid turns and high accelerations, 
the ammunition belts would often develop kinks, causing the ammunition 
feed to be disrupted and the guns to jam.  

There were three Crusader losses to MiGs.  All three of them were F-8E 
fighters.  The first loss was on June 21, 1966, when F-8E BuNo 149152 
flown by by Lt.  Cole Black VF-211 was shot down by a MiG.  Lt.  Black 
ejected and was taken prisoner.  A VF-162 F-8E (BuNo 150908) flown by 
the squadron's skipper, Commander Dick Bellinger was hit by Migs on 
July 14, 1966.  Cmdr Bellinger attempted to divert to Da Nang, but 
exhausted his fuel and was forced to eject.  An F-8E (BuNo 150896) 
from VF-111 was lost to MiGs on September 5, 1966.  The pilot, Captain 
W. K. Abbot on exchange from the USAF, ejected and became a POW.  
Overall, the Crusader achieved a six-to-one kill-loss ratio during the 
Vietnam war.  

The Navy photo reconnaissance unit VFP-62 was decommissioned on 
January 5, 1968.  VFP-63 now assumed sole responsibility for providing 
RF-8 detachments to all the Navy's carriers.  In 1971, the squadron 
was restructured to include a permanent shore command and five 
numbered detachments (two in the Atlantic and three in the Pacific).  
On September 1, 1972, VFP-63 also assumed responsibility for all F-8 
training in the Navy.  It had received F-8Hs in 1969, with the goal 
being to provide the RF-8s with their own escorts.  However, the F-8Hs 
had to be redistributed to fighter squadrons.  The RF-8As began to 
give way to the RF-8Gs in the late 1960s.  

In 1972, combat was renewed in response to the invasion of the South 
on Easter weekend.  This time, the Phantom was the primary MiG-killer 
of the Navy, and the Crusader was destined to achieve no further 
victories over MiGs.  Most F-8 fighters flew escort missions for 
photographic reconnaissance flights and participated in air-to-ground 
strikes.  

There were five US Marine Corps squadrons which saw combat in Vietnam.  
VMF(AW)-212 was the second fighter squadron during CVW-16's 1965 
cruise aboard the *Oriskany* (CVA-34).  One of the Marine 
carrier-based Crusaders was shot down and the pilot was captured.  
However, most Marine Corps Crusader units in Vietnam served from shore 
bases at Da Nang and Chu Lai.  This included VMF(AW)-235 and 
VMF(AW)-232.  VMF(AW)-235 flew close support actions against North 
Vietnamese forces laying siege to Khe Sanh.  VMCJ-1 flew the RF-8A, 
and many were detached to carriers to fly reconnaissance missions.  By 
October 1966, the RF-8A had been supplanted by the RF-4B Phantom, 
leaving only the F-8Es of VMF(AW)-232 and VMF(AW)-235 to carry on with 
the Marines.  The Marines lost 12 F-8Es to flak in Vietnam, plus two 
more during enemy rocket attacks on Marine bases.  

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Crusaders began to be replaced by 
F-4 Phantoms, especially aboard the larger aircraft carriers.  By 
1972, F-8s had disappeared from most carrier based fighter squadrons, 
having been relegated to the reserves or placed in storage.  By the 
last year of the Vietnam war, only four fighter squadrons flew the 
F-8: VF-24 and VF-211 from the *Hancock* and VF-191 and VF-194 from 
the *Oriskany*.  All of them flew the F-8J upgrade of the F-8E.  
VFP-63's detachments still continued to operate the RF-8G.  Most of 
the smaller 27C carriers had been retired by this time, leaving only 
the *Oriskany* and the *Hancock* still in service.  Most of the 
Atlantic Fleet Crusader squadrons had already been decommissioned.  

Following the end of the Vietnam conflict, the *Hancock* remained on 
duty in the Gulf of Tonkin.  In October of 1973, with the Yom Kippur 
War in the Middle East under way, she was suddenly ordered to the 
southern end of the Red Sea so that her complement of A-4 Skyhawks and 
F-8 Crusaders could be turned over to the hard-pressed Israel Defense 
Forces/Air Force.  These planes were to supplement the A-4s being 
delivered to Israel through transoceanic flights from the USA.  
However, in the meantime, the Israelis began to get the upper hand in 
the war and the *Hancock* was sent back to the United States without 
delivering its complement of aircraft.  

The last Crusader cruise took place in 1976 with VF-191 and VF-194 
aboard the *Oriskany*.  Following the completion of that cruise, the 
*Oriskany* was decommissioned and the last Crusader fighters were 
retired from the fleet.  As Crusaders left the fleet, they were 
transferred to the storage facility at Davis Monthan AFB.  

After 1976, the only Crusaders remaining with the Navy were the RF-8Gs 
of VFP-63.  The RA-5C Vigilante was retired in 1979, leaving the RF-8G 
as the only carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft serving with the US 
Navy.  Detachments from VFP-63 served aboard carriers in the Persian 
Gulf during the Iranian hostage crisis.  The last RF-8G cruise took 
place aboard the USS *Coral Sea* in March of 1982.  In June of that 
year, VFP-63 stood down and the last RF-8G was retired.  

RESERVES: 

The F-8A and B Crusaders began serving with the reserves in 1965.  
Originally, the squadrons shared the planes and flight time between 
the Navy and Marine Air Reservists, and the planes carried a joint 
NAVY/MARINE marking on their fuselages.  

In response to the 1968 North Korean seizure of the *Pueblo* 
intelligence ship, the Navy mobilized six reserve squadrons, including 
three F-8 reserve squadrons--VF-703, VF-661, and VF-931.  These units 
were equipped with older F-8A and F-8B Crusaders, and problems 
encountered in training, maintenance, and availability were so great 
that after nearly a year the units were still not fully operational.  

In 1970, in response to the problems encountered during the *Pueblo* 
callups, there was a major reorganization of the reserves, with the 
squadrons being reorganized as members of two reserve carrier air 
wings, CVWR-20 and CVWR-30 which would be part of the Atlantic and 
Pacific fleets respectively.  They were to be given current 
state-of-the-art aircraft so that things would go more smoothly should 
their reactivation ever become necessary.  Each CVWR had eight 
squadrons--two fighter, three attack, one early warning, one tanker, 
and one light photo.  At that time, Crusaders equipped three of the 
squadrons--the two fighter and the one light photo.  VF-201 and VF-202 
at Dallas, Texas and VF-301 and VF-302 based at NAS Miramar flew the 
F-8H and later the F-8J, whereas VFP-206 and VFP-306 based at Andrews 
AFB near Washington DC flew the RF-8G.  The composite squadron VC-13 
flew F-8Hs when it was formed in 1973 at New Orleans, but it exchanged 
its F-8Hs for A-4Ls after only a year.  The RF-8Gs of VFP-206 and 306 
had the interesting job of carrying out pre-show photography missions 
in support of the Blue Angels flight demonstration team.  

By 1975, both the Naval and Marine air reserve units had transitioned 
to F-4Bs, leaving only the photographic RF-8Gs still with the 
Reserves.  

The RF-8G was destined to serve with the reserves for another ten 
years.  On March 29, 1987, the last Crusader reserve squadron 
(VFP-206) finally retired its last RF-8G (146860) in a formal ceremony 
in which the plane was handed over to the Smithsonian Institution.  
VFP-206 was deactivated the next day.  

The following Navy and Marine Corps units flew the Crusader: 

VF(AW)-3, VF-11, VF-13, VF-24, VF-32, VF-33, VF-51, VF-53, VF-62, 
VF-84, VF-91, VF-103, VF-111, VF-124, VF-132, VF-141, VF-142, VF-143, 
VF-154, VF-162, VF-174, VF-191, VF-194, VF-211, VF-214, VF-661, 
VF0703, VF-931, VF-201, VF-202, VF-301, VF-302, VFP-62, VFP-63, 
VFP-206, VFP-306, VFS-76, VSF-86, VC-13, VCP-61, VMF-112, VMF-122, 
VMF(AW)-212, VMF-215, VMF(AW)-232, VMF(AW)-235, VMF-251, VMF-312, 
VMF-321, VMF-323, VMF-333, VMF-334, VMF-451, VMCJ-1, VMCJ-2, VMCJ-3, 
VMF-351, VMF-511, VMJ-4, VU/VC-1, VU/VC-2, VU/VC-4, VU/VC-5, VU/VC-7, 
VU/VC-8, VU/VC-10, VC-3, VX-3, VX-4 H&MS-13.  

Sources:

    Vought F-8 Crusader, Peter Mersky, Osprey, 1981.

    The Aircraft of the World, William Green and Gerald Pollinger,
    Doubleday, 1965.

    The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.

    United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Gordon Swanborough and
    Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.

    Ray Wagner, American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition,
    Doubleday, 1982.

    The World's Fighting Planes, William Green, Doubleday, 1968.

    The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft Armament, Bill Gunston,
    Orion, 1988.

Joe Baugher			  **************************************
AT&T Bell Laboratories		  *  "May as well be frank, monsieur.  *
1000 E. Warrenville Road	  *  It would take a miracle to get    *
Room 1N 311			  *  you out of Casablanca."	       *	
P. O. Box 3013			  **************************************
Naperville, Illinois 60566-7013	  
USA					Phone: (708) 713 4548
[email-masked]
			    Who, me?  Speak for AT&T?  Surely you jest!