'Clipped' F-8 Crusader

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Interesting story about an F8 that had a ghost in it. This F8, NM111 had some slight longitudinal control problems. It seems that sometimes the stick froze on takeoff momentarily. The maintenance people checked it out and could find nothing wrong. The next day the AC was flown with an afterburner takeoff from the field and the pilot pulled the nose up into a max performance climb. As he approached the optimum climb angle he eased the back pressure or tried to as the stick would not move. The nose continued to move up toward the vertical. Using the notion that no flight attitude is unusual for a fighter pilot, he rolled the plane inverted and pulled the nose to the horizon. The stick moved great in that direction. Once he was level he rolled back upright. Everything worked OK after that. He reported the problem on landing and after an exhaustive investigation it was found that inside a leather sleeve enclosing the push rod linkages a bolt had found it's way inside and under the right G load it would jam the linkage.
 
i read once that when a f8 pilot realized that he was 'wingless', he simply rolled slightly left and right, and that snaped his wings into place!
 


Folded wing flights happen 7 times......also the F8U-3 did not have guns/cannons it was a missle carrying plane so it did not shoot itself down.
The Grumman F-11 Tiger did though.

David Hudson
dc 1
 

Attachments

  • F-8wingsfolded67.jpg
    43.8 KB · Views: 136
I don't recall the aircraft type, but I believe it was one of the 1950's era USN jets that shot itself down. IIRC, the pilot fired the cannon in a shallow climb, then nosed down and hit the power. Shortly afterwards, he ran into the descending shells....

CD
 
renrich said:
I am sure that WW1 AC shot themselves down often before synchronising gear was perfected and after when it failed.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily; before synchronising gear was perfected, they actually bolted steel plates on to the prop where the bullets would strike. This deflected the bullets until, after a few missions, they got too shot up, and they'd have to be replaced. IIRC, Anthony Fokker was actually the one who came up with the first synchronising gear for WWI fighters (there's a thread on that in here somewhere); the Allies weren't able to duplicate it until a German aircraft with the synchronising gear installed crashed behind enemy lines.
 
There were times in WW1 that firing through the prop arc was tried without the metal deflector wedges and that often resulted in an accident. I am aware that Fokker devised the Syn gear but that sometimes failed(as all mechanical devices sometimes do) and then AC shot themselves down.
 
Its my understanding that the first primitive interupter gear was wedges of steel on the inside of the propeller. Those were still used in World War II? The first French pilot to use them shot of his own propeller because the constant impact weakened the propeller and it flew apart.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

T
F-86 Sabre in camouflage
Replies
6
Views
528
Gnomey
MiG Alley's King: The F-86 Sabre Story Featuring Eric 'Winkle' Brown
Replies
5
Views
803
special ed
S
M
Fixing an F-80 Problem
Replies
2
Views
1K
SaparotRob
The emblem on the fuselage of an F-106A
Replies
14
Views
1K
junkman3353
J
F-51D Korean War interior
Replies
16
Views
2K
MIflyer
M
Menu
Log in
Register