The F-8 Crusader was many things to many people. To its manufacturer, one of the leading pioneeer aircraft companies, Chance Vought, it was the last – and ultimately successful – chance to regain its once Olympian status as one of the main suppliers of fighter aircraft to the US Navy. To its early pilots, the F-8 was a proud, skittish thoroughbred which, if handled properly and respectfully, endowed its pilot with a cuphoric feeling of godlike invincibility, offering breathtaking speed and grace in the arenas of aerial combat. But, the F-8 could also be a coffin if poorly flown, especially around its main venue, the aircraft carrier.