phantomfixer Posted November 20, 2017 Share #1 Posted November 20, 2017 My buddy in the USN...the plane captain..on the last Crusader to leave Andrews AFB around 1984ish...I understand it is at Pensecola on display Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfixer Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share #2 Posted November 20, 2017 VFP306 tail number he thinks is 601 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hink441 Posted November 20, 2017 Share #3 Posted November 20, 2017 Great picture! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfixer Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share #4 Posted November 20, 2017 he has a few more..one of him marshaling the jet out, and the takeoff...pretty cool stuff...the last gunfighter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking73 Posted November 29, 2017 Share #5 Posted November 29, 2017 Very cool, thanks for sharing this. Please post the other pictures if you can! Yes, the Crusader was the last gunfighter but by this time, the only ones left were the RF-8G photo recon birds. All the fighter versions had been retired by the 80s. -Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted November 29, 2017 Share #6 Posted November 29, 2017 The last RF-8G left Andrews in early 1987. Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfixer Posted November 30, 2017 Author Share #7 Posted November 30, 2017 Thanks for the year Randy...his scrap book, since pack away from many moves, has all the pics of the ceremony, launch and take off... and yes Derek I do believe it was the Recce model according to his tales.. Doug's navy career, after the F8, was an assignment at Andrews Naval Transient Maintenance...catching all the Navy and Marine jets coming and going at Andrews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted December 5, 2017 Share #8 Posted December 5, 2017 I only saw one F-8 in my career, and it was French Navy in 1988. I think they flew them until 2000 or so, but it was the fighter version, not recce. Like your friend, I worked in TA but in Germany for 4 years. Best time I ever had job-wise, being launch/recovery qualified on everything NATO owned from F-100s to F-18s. I took a ton of pics too, plus bot farmed out to airshows all over Europe. It was a lot of work, most of our business were F-104s and F-4s, but every day was different. Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted December 5, 2017 Share #9 Posted December 5, 2017 Hey, I just noticed you said he was in VFP-306. They did inactivate in 1984. Their sister unit at Andrews, VFP-206, flew on with the RF-8G until 1987. Maybe that's what he was talking about. Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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