It earned the nickname "The Last of the Gunfighters" as the final American-built fighter to feature a machine gun as its primary weapon. The F-8 Crusader saw extensive action during the Cold War ...

The Crusader’s surveillance variant served longer than its fighter sibling. In the Tonkin Gulf in 1965, aviation ordnancemen of VF-194 load an AIM‑9 Sidewinder onto an F-8 aboard the Ticonderoga.