Ph Jets the Chinese Fear

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I was awed to see how big the supersonic F-8 Crusader (speed Mach 1.8 ) when I saw it recently displayed at the Clark Air Base’s museum in Pampanga when I dropped by there to interview the South Korean representative of the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-21 multi-role fighter (speed Mach 1.8). The Crusader was much bigger than the needle nosed U.S made Northrop F-5 A/B and the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star displayed nearby.

After the South Vietnamese forces took our island Pugad (Southwest Cay) in the Spratly (Kalayaan) in 1979 and the threat of the Mainland Chinese to take any of our remaining 10 islets and shoals there, President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. in 1977 bought 35 – where 25 were refurbished and 10 were used for spare parts - F-8 Crusader night fighting jets in the United States at US $11.7 million (U.S $23 million if it included the training of 18 Pinoy pilots and maintenance personnel sent to the Vought Corporation in Dallas, Texas) and deployed them in the Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. They flew continuous air reconnaissance and patrol flights over the disputed islands.

The presence of the day and night fighting Crusaders – superior fighters than our country’s squadrons of the day jets F-5 A/B - assured air superiority for the Philippine military forces against the Chinese and the Vietnamese in the 1980s in the Spratly. It deterred them in confronting the Philippines during that time despite bloody battles that ensued between the Chinese and Vietnamese in the nearby Paracel Island.

Crusader fighter pilots intercepted too many Soviet bombers which over-flew the northwestern area of the country.

Fast climbing and maneuverable than the F-5s, the F-8s gained fame in the Vietnam War when U.S naval pilots from the carriers destroyed 19 Vietnamese Soviet made MIGs 17 and 21 jets in air-to-air combat and only lost three in turn. It was called the Migs' Killer as it destroyed to smithereens more Migs than the vaunted U.S F4 Phantoms in the Vietnam War the U.S lost to communist North Vietnam and Vietcongs

The F-8, used to be armed with four .50 caliber machine guns on both sides of her fuselage after first production in 1955, was the last plane to use four 20 mm autocannons on the same places of the fuselage.

It was called the "Last Gunslinger" after it was superseded by heat seeking fired missiles by its successors like the F-16, F-14, F-15 to name a few.

The other armament of the F-8, according to Wikipedia and which had been specified by the US Navy, consisted with 32 unguided Mk 4/Mk 40 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket (Mighty Mouse FFARs) and cheek pylons for two guided AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

Due to a lack of spares and the rapid deterioration of the aircraft, the remaining Crusaders were grounded in 1988 by the Philippine Air Force and left on an open grass field at Basa Air Base, Pampanga. They were finally withdrawn in 1991 after they were badly damaged by the Mount Pinatubo eruption and offered for sale as scrap. Some of the inoperational airframes were refurbished for use as props in the 2000 flick’s Thirteen Days, a dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that depicted the real-life U.S RF-8As involved in the low-level photo reconnaissance missions that took pictures of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba.