Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Salute!

Another thread has a reference to the total Crusader losses.

I don't buy the numbers, as one author alleges that 88% of the jets were lost.

Only jet I know of that had many losses was the THUD.

Gums wants to know.

out,

F-16.net Sponsor

I dunno, but here's a start: http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Airc ... mended.htm

I'll keep looking, see what I can find.

Brother Gums,

Revisiting some old MIL-AV links in my IE did prove to find many dead and or dying.

One did reveal the knowledge you speak of; "The Gunfighter's Site" - http://www.cloudnet.com/~djohnson/index.html

REF: "Records" section

Quote:

"Safety" Record - a point of perverse pride. Overall accident rate of 46.70 per 100,000 hrs. (For comparison: A-4: 23.36; F-4: 20.17; F-14: 9.32). Many reasons probable, none of which include pilot inadequacy. The VIW wing (or something) made it a strange beast on final; 140 kts+/- approach speeds to a 27C; gremlins; "tiger" attitude, to close for the kill on anything, anyplace, any time, with any weapon available, apparently including the airplane. In an article in the August 2000 issue of Flight Journal, Paul Gilcrist points out that "the accident statistics of the Crusader in the Fleet was atrocious . . . the Navy bought 1266 Crusaders during those years and at the same time, experienced 1106 major Crusader accidents. In other words, some intrepid aviator or other crashed virtually every Crusader ever built!"

87.36% by those numbers; some may not have been 'write-offs', but at that rate some most likely crashed twice!?!

Shocked

TEG

"When you're out of F-8's, you're out of fighters."

Literally.

OL

Salute!

TEG, Prinz and Outlaw, I can't believe the friggin' numbers. Sheesh.

There's a book in our local liberry called something like "Mig Master", referring to the F-8's good record in 'nam. Will check that sucker.

One of the projects in my second career had to do with slaving the AIM-9 seeker to your radar or other "pointing" sensor. The program used the Crusader. Was a clever method the Navy used to bias the seeker position, I must say.

Always thot the Zipper was the one with the worst record, so the Crusader numbers are a shock.

LTV musta done something unique with the SLUF, as it did just fine. Sure, we had some motor problems early on, but that was it.

later,

Gums sends ....

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

I dunno, according to Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club by Rene Francillon it was 118 F-8s lost during the war in total, 57 due to combat. Not sure what the different authors are using as the difference between "major accident" and "lost" though...

That would make a little more sense. The worst losses due to combat would very likey have been the Thud. However, no doubt several were lost due to landing mishaps, etc.

ADM Paul Gilchrist would absolutely be in the to know. Although, he, like many, loved the F-8, it's safety record was appalling, and it was a real bear to bring back aboard the boat.

BTW, the US plane that got the most gun kills in the Vietnam War was the Thud.

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

F-8 Crusader losses