Vought (XF-8A) XF8U-1 Crusader - Seattle, WA
N 47° 31.055 W 122° 17.768
10T E 552993 N 5262923
One of many static aircraft displays located at the Museum of Flight at King County International Airport and has the distinction of being the first naval aircraft to go supersonic on its first flight. Admission fees apply.
Waymark Code: WMVGFC
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 04/16/2017
Views: 6
Located at the Museum of Flight are a large number of static aircraft on display. One of them is a Vought (XF-8A) XF8U-1 Crusader. The Museum of Flight website contains a
page devoted to this aircraft and it reads:
The Navy was pleased with the Pratt and Whitney J57-P-11-powered Crusader from the start. The Museum's Crusader is the prototype airplane, BuNo 138899. After being completed at the Vought factory near Dallas, it was flown in a Douglas C-124 Globemaster to Edwards Air Force Base where it made its first flight on March 25, 1955. Test pilot John Konrad took the airplane supersonic on this flight, the first time it had ever been done with any fighter on its maiden flight.
In the years following, the Crusader would win the Collier Trophy for the year's greatest achievement in aviation, become the first fighter to fly over 1,000 miles-per-hour (1,600 km/h), and set the cross-country speed record with young Marine aviator John Glenn Jr. as pilot.
Perhaps the Crusader's most interesting feature was its high-mounted, variable-incidence wing. For takeoff and landing, the entire wing would elevate seven degrees at the leading edge, thus dramatically improving pilot visibility and coincidentally allowing the landing gear to be shorter and stronger. In the up position for takeoff, (or fuselage down position in flight), the drooping leading edge devices and trailing edge flaps would combine to form a very cambered, high lift wing.
'899' made 509 flights during five years of flight testing, after which it was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 1960. After being stored at the Silver Hill, Maryland restoration facility for a number of years, and a few other intermediate stops, the airplane was finished at the Museum's Restoration Center and Reserve Collection in Everett, Washington.
A nearby placard also highlights this Crusader and reads:
Last of the Gunfighters
The Vought F-8 Crusader (originally F8U) was a single-engine, supersonic,
carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft built by Vought for the United States Navy and Marine Corps-replacing the Vought F7U Cutlass. The Crusader was the last American fighter with guns as the primary weapon, earning it the title "The Last of the Gunfighters."
The Museum's Crusader was one of two prototypes--designated Bu.
No, 138899. The prototype '899' made 509 flights during five years of flight testing. It was donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 1961. Years later is was moved to the Museum of Flight's Restoration Center in Everett, Washington, where restoration took place. The XF8U-1 was donated to The Museum of Flight in 2004.
John William Konrad
On March 25, 1955, experimental test Pilot John William Konrad took the Museum's XF8U-1 prototype up for its maiden flight during which he exceeded Mach 1, and became the first naval aircraft on record to go supersonic on its first flight.
Konrad joined Chance Vought Aircraft Corporation as an experimental test pilot in 1953. His aviation career spanned 56 years and included his assignment to a B-17 combat crew with the 305th Bomber group in Germany during World War II. Following Vought's F-8 program, Konrad was the first to fly the A-7 Corsair II.
He was also instrumental in the first flight of the armed services first vertical take-ff and landing aircraft, the XC-142,
in September, 1964.
The MiG Master
The F-8 was one of the most numerous fighter in the US Navy during the Vietnam conflict. During the Rolling Thunder Campaign of 1965-68, The Crusader officially downed 18 North Vietnamese MiG-17s and MiG-21 jets. The most unusual downing of a MiG 17 was by an F-8J, which occurred during a dogfight between the aircraft. With the Crusader closing in, the MiG's pilot ejected before a shot was fired.
Besides its role as an air superiority fighter, the Crusader also was used in photo-reconnaissance, strike missions, and as an engineering testbed.