Nov 022011
The Vought F8U-3 Crusader III was mentioned in the comments in a recent post, so I figured I’d throw out some images of it. This was a beast of a plane, looking like little more than a giant afterburning turbojet engine, a plethora of blade-like control surfaces, an afterthought of a cockpit and a whole lot of attitude. A competitor to the F-4 Phantom II, the Crusader III was able to get to about Mach 2.4 and probably had the radar cross section of a small moon. The large ventral stabilizers would fold horizontal for ground clearance during takeoff and landing.
And of course… there are detailed drawings of the F8U-3 available!
3 Responses to “F8U-3”
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I’d have liked to see the USAF adopt this. The J-58 powered version. Imagine the performance once they’d lost the requirement to land on a carrier (and the subsequent weight loss).
I almost wish someone would find a foolproof way to defeat stealth, so that designs like this can make a comback without all the sawtooth trailing edges and all…
There’s a pretty good monograph on the F8U-3: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984611401