Suddenly, the MiG’s canopy flew off, followed by the pilot. F-8 pilot Lt. Jerry Tucker watched incredulously as his ‘kill’ floated down under a white parachute.
Nicknamed by its pilots as the “last of the gunfighters” because it carried four Colt-Browning Mk 12 20 mm cannons (while its main naval rival, the F-4 Phantom II, relied solely on missiles), the F-8 Crusader was the most numerous fighter in US Navy service when America entered the Vietnam War in 1964. At that time, 482 F-8C/D/E aircraft equipped 17 frontline squadrons. During the 1965–68 Rolling Thunder campaign, the type performed very well against North Vietnamese MiG-17s and MiG-21s, being officially credited with 18 aerial victories. These accounted for 53 percent of all MiG kills claimed by Navy units in that period.
According to Peter Mersky in his book F-8 Crusader Units of the Vietnam War, the final officially credited Vietnam War kill by a Crusader was achieved by Lt. Anthony J. Nargi of VF-111 Det. 11. He was flying F-8C BuNo 146961 (AK 103) from the veteran carrier USS Intrepid when, on Sept. 9, 1968, he downed a MiG-21. This victory marked the Navy’s 29th MiG kill of the war and the F-8’s 18th—and final—confirmed aerial victory.
Carrier-based F-4 Phantom II crews relied on their well-practiced loose-deuce tactics and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, along with the much-praised instruction from the new Topgun school at Miramar, to down 26 MiGs between 1970 and 1973—after having scored ten kills from 1965 to 1968. For the F-8, Nargi’s victory marked the conclusion of a comparatively short tally of successes.
There was, however, one final and disputed F-8 victory—the kill claimed by VF-211’s Lt. Jerry Tucker on May 23, 1972. It was not as though the ‘Checkmates’ lacked action; they had been heavily engaged in supporting the fierce fighting on the ground, dropping bombs and firing rockets at Communist targets while often facing intense anti-aircraft fire and SAM threats. Even so, every fighter pilot still longed for at least one shot at a MiG…
The unit was now equipped with the F-8J, a modernized version of the F-8E that incorporated improved avionics and boundary layer control, which helped tame the Crusader’s notoriously tricky handling around the carrier.
That day, Tucker and Lt Cdr Frank Bachman were flying TARCAP (Target Combat Air Patrol) in support of an Alpha strike near the Vinh airfield. Circling in their assigned area was becoming monotonous, and as the strike aircraft returned, two F-4s from VF-161 were directed toward a MiG that had come out over the water in response to the attack on the airfield. The two F-8 pilots listened in as the F-4 crews quickly lost situational awareness—and with it, the MiG. Tucker then called Red Crown to report that his section was ready to engage. Red Crown recalled the Phantom IIs and vectored the Crusaders toward the MiG instead.
Heading north, the F-8s picked up sight of a MiG-17 and accelerated toward what looked like an effortless victory. Lt. Tucker moved into the lead position because he had the enemy aircraft clearly in view. The MiG was flying low and at high speed. Tucker’s Sidewinder missile began to emit its characteristic growl, signaling that the seeker head had locked onto the target. Then, without warning, the MiG’s canopy blew off and the pilot ejected. Tucker stared in disbelief as his presumed ‘kill’ drifted down beneath a white parachute. Frustrated, the Crusader pilot made two passes by the understandably anxious North Vietnamese airman, who twisted his head to follow the American fighter each time it streaked past.
Regrettably, the Navy refused to award credit for the victory, leaving those involved—and later historians—to debate the matter ever since. A long-standing question about this encounter is whether the MiG pilot ejected after realizing his adversaries were F-8s rather than F-4s. Naturally, Crusader pilots argue that such a decision would be understandable, given the F-8’s fearsome reputation. Still, as Lt. Tucker notes, only that MiG pilot truly knows why he bailed out, and he has long since disappeared into comfortable anonymity.
F-8 Crusader Units of the Vietnam War is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force
