Author: Mersky, Peter
Publisher: Osprey Pub Co
Year: 1998
ISBN: 9781855327245
Binding: Soft Cover
Book Condition: As New
Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Description: New book, 96 pages, 118 photos, 33 color profiles, 6 color uniform illustrations, 10 1/72 scale drawings. COM07. Known to its pilots as the 'last of the gunfighters' due to its quartet of Colt-Browning Mk 12 20 mm cannon, the F-8 Crusader was numerically the most populous fighter in the US Navy at the start of America's involvement in the Vietnam conflict in 1964 - some 482 F-8C/D/Es equipped 17 frontline units. It enjoyed great success against North Vietnamese Mig-17s and Mig-21s during the Rolling Thunder campaign of 1965-68, officially downing 18 jets, which represented 53 per cent of all Mig claims lodged by Navy squadrons during this period. Contents: First Engagement; Setting Things Up; Making a War; Action in the Tonkin Gulf; War Begins in Ernest; MiG Killers; Assessing the Enemy; Beyond the MiGs; 'Leatherneck' Crusaders, 1965-68; Final Word.