With specially commissioned artworks and dynamic combat ribbon
diagrams, this volume reveals how the 'last of the gunfighters', as the
F-8 was dubbed by its pilots, prevailed against the growing MiG threat
of the Vietnamese People's Air Force.**
When the Vietnam War began, the F-8 was already firmly established as a
fighter and reconnaissance aircraft. It entered combat as an escort for
Alpha strike packages, braving the anti-aircraft artillery and
surface-to-air missiles alongside the A-4 Skyhawk bombers and meeting
MiGs for the first time on 3 April 1965. Although the Crusader was
nicknamed 'last of the gunfighters', its pilots employed 'secondary'
AIM-9D Sidewinder missiles in all but one of their MiG kills, with guns
also used as back-up in three. Its 20 mm guns were unreliable as they
often jammed during strenuous manoeuvres, although they were responsible
for damaging a number of MiGs. However, in combat the F-8 had the
highest 'exchange ratio' (kills divided by losses) at six-to-one of any
US combat aircraft involved in the Vietnam War.
Through the copious use of first-hand accounts, highly detailed
battlescene artwork, combat ribbon diagrams and armament views, Osprey's
Vietnam air war specialist Peter E. Davies charts the successful career
of the F-8 Crusader over Vietnam.
