The Vought F-8 Crusader was the first carrier-based fighter designed in the 1950s to have supersonic flight characteristics. Thanks to its Pratt & White turbojet engine with afterburner, it was able to exceed the top speed of Mach 1.8. It entered service in the late 1950s with the fighter flying departments of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps to replace the aging Vought F7U Cutlass. The F-8 had a good operational life and was used until the Vietnam War by American embarked flight departments. Armed with 4 x 20 mm cannons. installed on the sides of the large front air intake, it could carry a varied war load, which guaranteed it a certain operational flexibility, consisting of air-to-air missiles, rockets and bombs. Precisely because it was armed with cannons, unlike the more modern and advanced F-4 Phantom II which did not have them in the first versions, the pilots awarded the Crusaders the title of "The last of the Gunfighters". It was later also used by the embarked flight departments of the French Navy.
