|
Chance Vought's XF8U-3 Crusader III was a higher-performance
follow-on to the operational F8U-1, but lost the Navy's fly-off
competition for a new Mach 2 fighter to the all-new twin-engine,
two-seat McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II. The Crusader III was the
last of the single-engine single-seat fighters in the technological
era before the digital age, when it took two crewmembers to operate
a modern fighter aircraft's complex electronic radar and weapons
systems. Beloved by all the pilots who flew her, the XF8U-3 was
considered the 'Cadillac' of Navy fighters. |