Sadly, funding for this site is currently at a very low level. Contrast this with a dogfight in which a fighter is trying get into a firing situation on another aircraft that is manoeuvring in three dimensions. The fight is characterised by rapid onset of G-forces followed by rapid un-loads or negative G-forces. This difference between shooting situations in training and combat caused the cannon-jamming problem to return during missions over North Vietnam. While G-forces during the firing run can approach 6G, the G-force is usually applied with a smooth, consistent pull. 5 To score hits on the banner a pilot needs to fly a smooth and precise pattern through the air. 4 F-8 squadrons found that consistent use and maintenance of the Mark-12 would reduce jamming incidents in training. Unfortunately, the training environment, whether shooting at a target on the ground or shooting a target banner at 30,000 feet, did not simulate the rigours of a dogfight over North Vietnam. F-8 pilots often practiced air-to-air gunnery by shooting a cloth banner, impregnated with some radar receptive material, which was towed by another fighter. The pattern was usually flown at 20,000 feet and the supersonic pattern was flown at 30,000 feet. The Mark-12 cannon were capable of firing 660 rounds per minute but were prone to jamming. The Crusader was armed with four Colt Mark-12 twenty-millimetre cannon and could also carry four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. Capable of speeds approaching Mach-2, 3 the F-8 was built with one goal in mind: find enemy aircraft and shoot them down. 2 It was a single seat and single engine air superiority fighter. The Vought F-8 Crusader entered service in the United States Navy in 1957. The proper experience, one that could translate easily into a wartime situation, was instrumental in the success of the F-8 over North Vietnam. This led to the air battles becoming a visual maneuvering affair, an affair that the F-8 pilots were knowledgeable with. Stringent rules of engagement, weather, and long flight distances were some of the disadvantages that enabled the North Vietnamese MiG pilots to pick the opportune time to attack. The F-8’s tactics and training were based on its lack of a beyond visual range weapons and it reliance on rear quarter IR missiles and four 20-mm cannon. The nature of the air war over Vietnam handcuffed the American forces with many disadvantages. The F-8 was a proven aircraft by 1965 with fair maneuverability along with a respectable weapons suite and mature training program. 1 How did the Crusader pilots achieve such a drastic difference in success when compared to newer and more advanced American fighters? A comparison between the F-8 and its two adversaries of the Vietnam War, the MiG-17 and MiG-21 shows that the F-8 was fairly evenly matched against the two MiGs. The Navy’s F-8 Crusader, made by Vought, racked up a much more respectable 6 to 1 kill ratio and with probable claims added into the equation a 7 to 1 kill ratio was achieved in the first three years of the Vietnam War. fighters and pilots, equipped with advanced technology and weapons, found that their training, tactics, and aircraft were not up to the task in Vietnam, save one aircraft. The Vietnamese Air Force, purportedly poorly trained and equipped with mostly antiquated fighters, was proving itself capable of defending itself against the a vastly more well-equipped foe. The U.S. This poor kill ratio greatly distressed the leadership of the U.S. (Historians have recently disputed this claim and some of estimated the kill ratio in Korea to be closer to 8 to 1). This was much lower than the 14 to 1 kill ratio claimed in the Korean War. aircraft shot down by Vietnamese fighters. air forces tallied a disappointing 2 kills for every U.S. The United States air forces found that its reliance on technology was not up to the task of providing air superiority over North Vietnam and the U.S. Fighter aircraft like the F-4, with powerful radars and beyond visual range missiles would sweep the sky of enemy fighters. Older fighters, it was thought, would not fair as well as the F-4. The air-war over North Vietnam, especially the fight against the North Vietnamese MiG aircraft, drew much media and military leadership attention because it would put this theory to the test, albeit against a drastically inferior foe. From 1965 to 1968 and then again in 1972 United States aircraft flew into an almost daily battle over North Vietnam against a much smaller and vastly technologically inferior foe. Prior to the Vietnam War, leadership in the US Air Force and US Navy felt that superior technology, in aircraft and weapons, would lead to air supremacy over any enemy. Gundlach, Senior Air Warfare Analyst, Retired Marine Corps Fighter Pilot and Denver Bronco fan.
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