preface

Author's note: Writing a book, be it on paper or in a digital format, takes a lot of time. That was one of the first things I found out when embarking on this project during the summer of 1997 (!). Many evenings and weekends were spend researching, writing, formatting and editing the pages you see before you, but there never seemed to be enough free time, and work progressed rather slowly. I also opted to wait until the retirement of the last French Crusaders before publising. The current state of this "online book" is such that it is far from finished, but I feel enough pages have been filled to justify publication. The still missing pages, bits and pieces will be added in due time, so please come back soon and check this space and the index-page (the i-button at left) for more information. Enjoy! Well...a lot of time has passed since the above was written...and a lot of things have happened. Busy schedules and personal turmoil don't mix very well with creating a website. But the project is still alive, and I feel strengthened by the many compliments I receive. Thank you all for your patience! Marco Dirkx, December 2003, revision 1

Military aircraft have always fascinated me, for as long as I can remember. It was therefore no coincidence I picked up a book called "MiG Master" in the local library when asked to read some English books for school. That was in the early eighties, and that was the moment that my fascination for the F-8 Crusader was born. It would take several years before I actually got to see one in action, but that did not matter. For me, the F-8 had to be the most beautifull and efficient jet fighter ever made. I have not changed my mind since.

If I wanted to tell the whole story about the Crusader I could go on for years and years. Instead I have tried to contain myself a bit, just the essentials for now! A big advantage of an online book like this one is that it easily grows. There is no need for a reprint or new edition when new material comes available. With this book I can easily add and correct. The Crusader history, variants and operators pages are fairly static, there is not that much going on anymore in the Crusader community. But the survivors list is far from static, it will be some time before I even dare to call it more or less complete...

If you wish to link your own homepage to this site, I would be more than pleased. There is more information on how to link, plus a nice-looking button for you to use in appendix B.

English is not my native language, so I hope you will excuse me for my sloppy English here and there. Reading English books and writing e-mails is nothing new to me, but I found writing a book like this one to be quite another story... Fortunately corrections are easily made in this digital world so I invite you to send me any corrections you might have. You will find my e-mail address below.

None of the photographs or drawings on these pages were made by myself, I just happen to have a lot of Crusader books, photos, a scanner and the Internet on hand. Since I have no commercial objectives whatsoever I hope nobody has a problem with this, but if someone feels he deserves a credit please let me know and I will see to it.

On the subject of credits, contributors to the survivors list are mentioned in chapter 7. My gratitude also goes to Julian Griffith-Jones and Andy Marden who's contributions have been substantial, Dill Hunley and Peter Merlin at NASA Dryden, Patrick van Stiphout for the photo of the F-8's at AMARC, many members of the F-8 Association who showed their gratitude and offered first-hand accounts and insights, special thanks to Buz Warfield for pointing out that the Reserve units which were called to active duty in 1968 did anything but "perform poorly" as it is sometimes written (see chapter 6, VF-661), and not forgetting all you fellow Crusader-lovers out there with who I had the pleasure of talking, be it face-to-face, by e-mail, on the late Scramble BBS or the Mil-Spotters Forum, especially Frank Noort for the "I design a better webpage than you" competition! And finally everyone who supported me with The Spotters Homepage and gave me the courage to embark on this project in the first place. If I have forgotten to thank someone it is not intentional. I thank you all!

I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did creating it. I have no guest book for you to sign, but if you have something nice to say about the F-8 and send me an e-mail, be it short or long, you will have made my day.

When you're out of F-8's... You're out of fighters.

Marco Dirkx
Best, the Netherlands
December 2003

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