A pair of F-8 Crusaders available

DH8

Thank you.

P changed to F after WWII

Andy

If F is for fighter (J. Boyle) why is the Mustang P (presumably pursuit) rather than F ?

Both Deer Valley and Falcon Field were. At Deervalley we had Thunderbird Aviation flying T-33s, T-37, and restoring a HA-1112 for the CAF, the spare parts Ha-1112 is flying as the 2 seater Me-109 with Hangar 10. Also at Deer valley was Firebird aerobatics doing maint on Pitts and other acro birds. Carl Schmieder and I were restoring his T-6 around that time. I worked on the F-8s and T-33s after Larry Higgins Sr died.

At Falcon Field there were 5 B-17s on the field, we were restoring Sentimental Journey while parked in the dirt along side a taxiway, as well as the B-25 Maid in the Shade. Globe Air was in operation with 4 B-17s ( Boeing Bee, Yankee Lady, Fuddy Duddy, 909 ) 2 TBMs, 2 Connies, several Harpoons, Clay Klabo was based there with his P-51 Fat Cat, and of course the Chaplin Fighter Museum.

Chad, I bet Deer Valley was a cool place to be.

Certainly it was back in the ’80s Tim, not only because of Thunderbird Aviation but also because it was home to Spitfire Tr.IX TE308 for a number of those years as well. It was the first Spit I ever saw and I have some fond memories of it flying over my house while doing “circuits and bumps”. Deer Valley also hosted a number of pretty good airshows during those years and is where I really started to get interested in airshows in general and warbirds in particular.

Oh and Thanks to J Boyle for explaining who Thunderbird are. I forgot in the speed to post on here.

Tim

Chad, I bet Deer Valley was a cool place to be.

I only remember the French F-8s on visits to the UK.

Tim

When ever anyone mentions F-8s, I am reminded of of what happened to a chap from Southend I used to know, and his mates. (late 60’s early 70’s)
They had gone to the US for some aircraft spotting, and maybe to take in an airshow. They thought a visit to Andrews AFB would be interesting, so
got in a cab, The driver took them straight through the main gate and dropped them off. They then started to wander around looking at the hardware on
display including F-8s. An airman saw them and asked them and said, “You guys like F-8s, this one’s mine” proceeding to show them all over the aircraft.
Then a couple of jeeps turned up with armed MP’s..They spent the next few hours explaining themselves to the military police.

I grew up around Deer Valley airport and remember all of Thunderbird’s many interesting aircraft types. For a neophyte warbird aficionado such as myself it was a VERY interesting place to visit. Skywarriors, Crusaders, several T-33 trainers, Mig-15, OV-1 Mohawk, C-123 Provider, and Cessna A-37 all come to mind and I’m sure there were others. Had the very distinct pleasure of seeing one of the Crusaders perform an aerobatic routine at nearby Luke AFB, the only time I have ever seen a Crusader fly. It was a most impressive performance. I truly hope that these birds find a good home.

Thank you, j Boyle but I was around (and teaching aircraft recognition) before the US Navy thought of changing the previous system which nominated the builder and the type sequence. 🙂

They were famous for flying surplus jets. Their fleet was often mentioned in historic aviation magazines.
You must have missed the memo.

Rosevidney1…The auction firm called them F8U-1 because that’s what’s on their data plates.
They would not be renamed F-8As by the USN until 1962, but their original designation would remain on their data plates for life.

As for your complaint that the firm’s description is ambiguous…
the designation is as unambiguous as possible.
The old USN system is telling everyone:
-The type of aircraft (F…for fighter),
-The builder (U…for Vought),
-The builder’s type sequence (8…The eighth Vought fighter)
-The aircraft configuration sequence (1…the first version of the design).
While a bit of a mouthful for neophytes, the system tells the knowledgeable party a great deal about the aircraft.

“Was a fairly well known defense contractor…”

*Was* being the operative word, never heard of them.

I disbelieved it at first as Thunderbirds is the name of the USAF aerobatic team as others have implied. The link further complicates matters by referring to them as F8U-1s !! Hint for auctioneers: AVOID AMBIGUITY!! MUST DO BETTER!!!

Ah yes, the British bias on the forum. Where people would prefer to talk about the HATCHES on British aircraft than whole foreign types!

Extremely optomistic on price

Thanks for providing that explanation – I also was confused. Look like the ideal runabout for the billionaire whose bored with fast sports cars.

Thunderbird was a fairly well known defense contractor who operated ex-military aircraft as test beds. If your company developed military avionics of some sort of weapons rack or similar, you’d hire them
Well known for being the (sole?) operator of civil LTV F-8s and they also had Douglas A-3 (A3D pre-1962) Skywarriors.

They operated out of Deer Valley airport in the North Phoenix area.

At the risk of being pedantic, if we were discussing Meteors, it would have been F.8, not F–8.

When did the USAF Thunderbirds fly USN F8’s?

You’ve lost me sorry. Doesn’t take much these days…

What do you mean ex-Thunderbird aircraft?

I had to take a second look at the thread title until I realised it’s Crusaders, not Meteors. Perhaps it would be useful to make this clear on a UK forum as I’d guess the Crusader, as fine an aircraft as it is, may have limited interest value here.

Anon.