Subject: Vought F-8 Crusader (8 of 18)

From: [email-masked] (joseph.f.baugher)
Date: 9 Sep 94 02:49:32 GMT

The F8U-1T was a two-seat trainer version of the Crusader.  It was 
built by modifying the 77th production F8U-1 (BuNo 143710).  This 
plane had also served as the prototype for the F8U-2NE.  It retained 
the ventral fins and the afterburner airscoops of the F8U-2NE.  The 
aircraft was lengthened by two feet and was fitted with a new forward 
cockpit that had two seats installed in tandem underneath a single 
clamshell-type canopy.  Both seats were fitted with a full set of 
flight controls.  The rear seat was raised by some fifteen inches to 
provide adequate forward visibility, giving the F8U-1T a distinctive, 
hump-backed appearance.  A wind-blast protection shield was installed 
behind the front ejector seat to protect the rear-seat occupant in the 
case of an emergency ejection at high speed.  Equipment formerly 
located behind the pilot's cockpit was moved to an area inside the 
fuselage.  Two cannon, their associated ammunition boxes, and the 
ventral rocket pack had to be deleted to make room for the second crew 
member.  However, the Sidewinder missile capability was retained.  A 
parabrake was fitted in the tail cone, the F8U-1T being the only 
Crusader version ever to have this feature.  Low-pressure tires were 
fitted to make the two-seat Crusader capable of soft-field landings.  
The powerplant was the Pratt & Whitney J57-P-20, derated so that it 
matched the performance of the F8U-1.  

The first flight took place on February 6, 1962.  On September 18, 
1962, the F8U-1T was redesignated TF-8A under the new Tri-Service 
designation system.  

Although developed under a Navy contract, the two-seat Crusader was 
not ordered into production because of a cutback in the fiscal 1964 
budget.  After being evaluated by the Navy in the USA, the TF-8A 
underwent a European tour in the hopes of attracting customers.  For a 
while, the British were interested in the two-seat Crusader.  If 
ordered, the British Crusader would have been powered with the 
Rolls-Royce Spey engine.  However, the British decided instead to 
order the McDonnell F-4 Phantom, and the idea of a Spey-powered 
Crusader never achieved fruition.  

Following the completion of company flight tests, Vought gave the 
trainer to the Navy's Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland.  
After several years at Patuxent River, the TF-8A went to NASA at 
Langly, Virginia, then to Edwards AFB.  

In 1977, Vought got a contract to provide refurbished F-8Hs to the 
Philippines.  As part of the contract, the TF-8A trainer was regained 
from NASA in order to provide transition training for the Philippine 
Air Force pilots that were going to be using the Crusader.  However, 
on July 28, 1978, while on a routine training flight, a Vought pilot 
and his Filipino trainee encountered engine trouble near Dallas and 
were forced to eject.  The TF-8A crashed in a farmer's field and was 
destroyed.  

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.

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