Sailors work on NP-441 (BuNo 147011), a Vought F-8C Crusader (originally F8U), aboard the Essex-class carrier USS Hancock (CVA 19) during the ship’s 1965 West Pac deployment to Vietnam. Note the open panel showing the feed chute for the starboard pair of the F-8’s four Colt-Browning Mark 12 autocannons. Capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute per gun, an F-8 only carried 144 rounds per gun, giving the Crusader just nine seconds worth of joy.
Photo courtesy of Stan Swanigan via U.S. Navy in the Vietnam War
As detailed by Baugher, 147011 entered the fleet in 1963 with the “Fighting Red Checkertails” of Fighter Squadron (VF) 24, first as NE-453, then as NP-441. She was lost 60 years ago today, 13 January 1965, while trying to trap on Hancock when her tailhook broke and the aircraft slid into the sea. The pilot ditched safely and was rescued by a Navy helicopter.
The Checkertails became one of the Navy’s first “Ace” squadrons during Vietnam, with its aviators downing five confirmed enemy MiGs (two on 19 May 1967 and three on 21 July 1967)– using a combination of Sidewinders and 20mm cannons. That’s almost a third of the 18 F-8 air-to-air victories over Southeast Asia.
- Lt Phil Wood: MIG-17, 19 May 1967
- LCDR Bobby Lee: MIG-17, 19 May 1967
- CDR Marion Isaacks: MIG-17, 21 July 1967
- LTJG Phil Dempewolf: MIG-17, 21 July 1967
- LCDR Robert Kirkwood: MIG-17, 21 July 1967
VF-24 Fighting Checkertails F-8 Crusaders flying a diamond formation NP wing
F-8 Crusaders VF-24 Checkertails and VF-211 Checkmates of CVW-21USS Hancock (CVA 19) Western Pacific circa 1970
Later transitioning to Tomcats in 1977 and renaming the squadron as the “Fighting Renegades,” VF-24 was disestablished on 31 August 1996.
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