[hyair]

In the mid 1950's the US Navy had a contrcact for a supersonic fighter that will operate from carriers. The competition was between Vought and Douglas. Both companies had at the time two aircrafts in service - the F7U Cutlass and the F-4D Skyray. Both models were not considered successful as the Cutlass was plugged with many accidents and was very hard to maintain with the Skyray doing slightly better but had also it's share of problems.
Vought knew that this is the last chance they have to win the Navy confidence and acted accordingly. The Crusader first flight was in 1955 and the plane broke the sound barrier in that first flight !!! . Douglas Skylancer first flight was in 1956 but only 5 prototypes were built as the Navy decided to go with the Crusader. Later they were delivered to NASA and one was serving with Nil Armstrong - first man on the moon.
After a short period the Crusader entered Navy service with the F8u-1 version and the rest is histoy. Both equiped with the same J57 engine the Crusader could reach max. mach number of 1.7 vs 1.45 of the Skyray and the rate of climb was the same.
Attached are images of the two in 1:48 scale side by side.

Yair