As an F-86, later F-100, driver in the USAF, I had numerous encounters with
the F-8.
A truly marvelous air-to-air fighter. Great turning radius.
A clean Hun could be a good fight... if the Hun driver was sharp!
One of my treasured memories is having an F-8 guy join up after a hard
fought hassle. We flew in close formation for a minute or two... the
Crusader was truly one of the most handsome fighters ever built. My F-8
hassles prompted me to volunteer for USN exchange duty, but alert/TDY
commitments prevented my ever getting the shot.
I believe the F-8 had the best air-to-air gun kill ratio in the SEA war?
The Hun was a great airplane, but I think the F-8 might've been the better
air-to-air machine.

Cheers...





"Doug "Woody" and Erin Beal" wrote in message
...
In the interest of getting back to a discussion on Naval Aviation in this
news group... (I'm tired of the War in Iraq and German Proximity Fuze
threads.)

I recently had the good fortune to talk to several former Navy reservists
at
a recent Hunter Reunion for pilots. We had 35 years of VF-201 and VFA-201
folks there.

There were at least 4 guys who had transitioned into the squadron from the
USAF active duty after Viet Nam tours in F-100's. (No, I don't remember
their names.) They were great guys though. Said the F-8 and the F-100
had
nearly identical flying characteristics and genuinely enjoyed their USNR
time.

Anybody else have similar insights?

--Woody