Vietnam War Flight Museum acquires French Crusader
This Houston (TX) based museum has taken the initiative to return a Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader to the air. Surprisingly, the candidate as the last potentially airworthy F-8 was not found in the U.S.A., but in France.
The Vietnam War Flight Museum has been able to lay their hands on former Marine Nationale (Aéronavale, French Navy) F-8P Crusader 34 (c/n 1251). This fighter was laid down as a US Navy F-8E with BuNo 151765.
This Crusader was one of a batch of the 42 of the original model F-8E(FN) that were delivered to the Aéronavale from 1964. These were basically F-8E models, modified to carry MATRA R530 air to air missiles. The Crusaders were flown by squadron 12.F and 14.F from the French carriers Clemenceau and Foch.
In 1989 a decision was taken to renovate 17 of the remaining aircraft. The renovation was performed at the Atelier Industriel de l'Aéronautique at Cuers-Pierrefeu between 1990 and 1997, with one plane rolling out every 18 months. The F-8E became the F-8P (Prolongé/Prolonged).
The candidate to be flown in the USA is one of these F-8Ps. Serial 34 was renovated in August 1993. After its withdrawal in 1999 the plane has been stored, since 2006 in a hangar of the aérodrome of Lons le Saulnier.
The Vietnam War Flight Museum has even already made a reservation for a US registration, N3512Z. Unfortunately there is still a ‘small’ gap to overcome: this gap is the USD 100,000 needed to cover the transportation and the initial restoration. A fundraising campaign has been set up by the museum to get this amount together.