In message , Hans Holbein
writes
Chuck schrieb:
Sure it was ugly, but it was one hell'uva good bird. Probably
the best aircraft that was never built.
How do we know?
Any informations? (I like that shark-like shape)
The F8U-3 was competing with the F4H-1, and lost. You'll have to Google
for further info.
Short and simple...the F8U-3 could out climb, out
accelerate, and out manuever the F4H-1. But the
pilot was overloaded with all the extra cockpit
work and because the Phantom II had a RIO, it won
the fly-off. It is reported that NASA pilots
flying F8U-3s would routinely engage Navy F-4s in
dogfights and win until they were told to stop
embarassing the Navy.

Lynn in StLou...home of the Phabulous Phantom

I flew F4B and Js, and used to hassle against F8s. Yeah, in a rockin'
and rollin' dogfight, the Vought was the better bird, but it carried
only a fraction of the missiles, had no range, and only carried bombs
with difficulty. As it turned out, dog fighting was only a small
segment of the VN conflict, blown out of propartion by stories and
drekumentaries.

We would have been in real trouble in Nam if the F8U-3 had been
purchased, especially since the Fleet Defense fighter role had never
come to pass. The great strength of the Phantom was its versatility
.... almost every mission had another bird that could do it better, but
the F4 could do them all ... and with few shortcomings.

More than anything, I was real glad to have an extra brain and pair of
eyes!

Cheers, Bob