F8U-3 Crusader III (Naval Fighters series) by Tommy Thomason

Tailspin Turtle

Tailspin Turtle

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At long last, my F8U-3 monograph has been published by Steve Ginter. It includes details that you probably haven't seen on the F8U-3 and the Grumman Design 118 (both twin and single-engine versions), as well as information on the competition between the F8U-3 and the F4H.
 

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Tailspin Turtle said:
At long last, my F8U-3 monograph has been published by Steve Ginter. It includes details that you probably haven't seen on the F8U-3 and the Grumman Design 118 (both twin and single-engine versions), as well as information on the competition between the F8U-3 and the F4H.
Click to expand...


This is great news! Do you have any word on when Amazon and the like will have it available for sale? I'll order it as soon as they list it.
 
F-14D said:
Tailspin Turtle said:
At long last, my F8U-3 monograph has been published by Steve Ginter. It includes details that you probably haven't seen on the F8U-3 and the Grumman Design 118 (both twin and single-engine versions), as well as information on the competition between the F8U-3 and the F4H.
Click to expand...


This is great news! Do you have any word on when Amazon and the like will have it available for sale? I'll order it as soon as they list it.
Click to expand...

I think Steve was shipping books to his outlets last week. I got a box from him then. It's not up on his web site yet, although it seems to have dropped some of his stuff (I've sent him an email about that).
 
Greetings All -

I received my copy yesterday and it is nicely produced with a lot of useful info on the competing designs (besides the F4H-1 Phantom II) which should appeal to those of us who frequent Secret Projects. The variety of Grumman designs were quite interesting to me.

Really well done - I'll rate this as 6 stars on a scale of 1 star being blah, 5 stars being excellent!

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
Mark Nankivil said:
Greetings All -

I received my copy yesterday and it is nicely produced with a lot of useful info on the competing designs (besides the F4H-1 Phantom II) which should appeal to those of us who frequent Secret Projects. The variety of Grumman designs were quite interesting to me.

Really well done - I'll rate this as 6 stars on a scale of 1 star being blah, 5 stars being excellent!

Enjoy the Day! Mark
Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

Where did you get this? I haven't been able to locate it at Ginter's site or order form or at Amazon.

Thanks. :)
 
From Tommy as I helped out with photos and drawings for the book. And I appreciate very much Tommy doing that!

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
well, congratulations to Tommy for a new book and successful sales - and gimmi us moooor of 'em!

bdcf816b4595.jpg
 
Tailspin Turtle said:
I just talked to Steve. His web site guy hasn't gotten around to updating it. If you Google "Ginter F8U-3", you'll find sources. I recommend Sprue Brothers as having excellent service and usually a discount (http://store.spruebrothers.com/naval-fighter-87---vought-f8u-3-super-crusader-p23892.aspx) At the moment, they are sold out but I'm sure that they have reordered.
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Pray tell; Dost thou have that widely acclaimed and most useful of numbers, thine ISBN? T'wouldst aid us most amply in our noble quest to procure said learned tome. Verily, thou wouldst find that thine own horde groweth as many eagerly part with their gold to obtain so fine a treasure.
 
...and I thought that "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" t'was already past this year...

(ISBN-13) 978-0-986114-0-9
(ISBN-10) 0-9846114-0-1
 
aim9xray said:
...and I thought that "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" t'was already past this year...

(ISBN-13) 978-0-986114-0-9
(ISBN-10) 0-9846114-0-1
Click to expand...


Prithee, thou must understand t'was a most proper request of courteous nature.

Avast! Ef ye wants ta be a-talkin' likes a fellow of pie-ratical natures, ya needs ta be a-swiggin' yer grog as ye speaks. It be most grateful, that I am, fer yer helpful tidbits that I'll be a-usin' to find Cap'n Tommy's booty (da Treasure booty, ye lubber, nots anythin' else!).

Arrrh
 
aim9xray said:
...and I thought that "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" t'was already past this year...
Click to expand...

I thought he was talking like a Crusader thou Hagarene heathen.
 
Abraham Gubler said:
aim9xray said:
...and I thought that "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" t'was already past this year...
Click to expand...

I thought he was talking like a Crusader thou Hagarene heathen.
Click to expand...

Wow! Somebody got it :D! My faith in humanity is restored (for the moment).
 
F-14D said:
Abraham Gubler said:
aim9xray said:
...and I thought that "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" t'was already past this year...
Click to expand...

I thought he was talking like a Crusader thou Hagarene heathen.
Click to expand...

Wow! Somebody got it :D! My faith in humanity is restored (for the moment).
Click to expand...

When's "International Talk Like a LOLcat Day?
 
Folks,

I picked up my copy last week at a local hobby store here in Denver.

Very nicely done!

Huzzah!

Lotsa excellent info on this rare bird. And plenty of grist for the WhIf crowd to!

Thanks for filling in this otherwise empty niche!

Madoc
 
I was able to grab one of Tommy's XF8U-3 books for myself!

Yes, I heartily recommend it!

I have read most of it, will finish it tonight.

Some of my favorites are the picture on pg 75. It is like a prayer
being answered that that picture exists and is included in the book!
Thanks for including it Tommy! When you see it, knowing what Ilike
(from my member name), you'll hopefully understand! :)

Also the story and diagrams about the F8U-3F are quite interesting.
P&W's suggestion for the afterburner of the F8U-3F is interesting!

And other interesting tidbits about the propulsion system, and how the
Navy learned from the Westinghouse J40 program.

And finally someone has started to fill in the blanks about the Navy J58
development efforts and also how it manifest itself with the F8U-3. Thanks
for that too Tommy!

I can only imagine what fun THAT bird would have been to design
build and fly. Read Tommy's description of it.

Great read! It leaves you with some sadness and frustration that at least
one airframe didn't sirvive, so that you could go and pay your respects
to the design team, manufacturing guys and test teams, as well as the
bird itself!

Being a propulsion nut, I am very intrigued to learn more about the XF8U-3's
air inlet, which was very different from Lockheed's on the A-12/SR-71.
Tommy gives this attention as well.

Tommy mentions what NASA pilots did when getting unstarts off the east
coast in the XF8U-3. I'd love to study that inlet more, and fix it!

Thanks Again Tommy!!
 
The Good: Amazon now acknowledges Tommy's book exists!

The Bad: It's "currently unavailable".

and

The Ugly: "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock".


Fortunately (for me), I've already got my copy. :)
 
F-14D, I think that was actually a used copy, because that is the
one I bought. There was just one. So I don't think Amazon has the
normal stock yet, otherwise it would be generally evailable even if
they had to reorder.

As I was finishing Tommy's book last night, another nice thing about it
is the access he has at the old reports and eval notes. He knows how
to thread all those together into an interesting story, or he knows which
tidbits to put on paper that communicate something. He has the credentials
too to portray a nice Naval leadership twist. In other words, what would
one of the Navy leaders focus on or look at here or what is important from
a Naval Aviator standpoint.

What I'd like to discuss is how a F8U-3 would have done in Vietnam against
a Mig-17 say, in a typical Mig-17 vs F-4 situation. Maybe that belongs in
the general F8U-3 forum instead of this forum on Tommy's book.

Maybe we should give time for more people to buy Tommy's book first too.
Don't know.
 
shockonlip said:
F-14D, I think that was actually a used copy, because that is the
one I bought. There was just one. So I don't think Amazon has the
normal stock yet, otherwise it would be generally evailable even if
they had to reorder.

As I was finishing Tommy's book last night, another nice thing about it
is the access he has at the old reports and eval notes. He knows how
to thread all those together into an interesting story, or he knows which
tidbits to put on paper that communicate something. He has the credentials
too to portray a nice Naval leadership twist. In other words, what would
one of the Navy leaders focus on or look at here or what is important from
a Naval Aviator standpoint.

What I'd like to discuss is how a F8U-3 would have done in Vietnam against
a Mig-17 say, in a typical Mig-17 vs F-4 situation. Maybe that belongs in
the general F8U-3 forum instead of this forum on Tommy's book.

Maybe we should give time for more people to buy Tommy's book first too.
Don't know.
Click to expand...

My copy is new, and I didn't get it from Amazon. I posted my message because of Amazon's phraseology. when they're just out of stock, normally that's what they say. I posted my note because this book has the phraseology they use when they don't know if it'll come in, or they may not carry it. Joe Cherrie's TSR.2 book had the same phraseology on their site for a while (they now list it as "out of print").

FWIW, I agree that your "what if" question would be better served elsewhere, keeping this discussion to the book itself.
 
Tommy's new F8U-3 book is a work of art - well researched, written, and profusly illustrated. It is a masterpiece!

Steve Pace
 
I got my hands on my copy at this weekend's Scale Model World event in Telford.

I've so far managed to do only a quick page through the contents, but it certainly looks like a work of very high quality.

cheers

Duncan
 
Finally picked up a copy of this at a model show in New Zealand this weekend.


Very nice book, great illustrations and so far excellent writing too.


I was surprised to find my own name (and that of flateric too) in the acknowledgements for some fairly minor assistance. Thanks Tommy :)
 
I picked one of these up from Amazon this week. My current break-from-work game is seeing which random Ginter books appear and try and avoid the "add to cart" button. So far, I am failing.

This is easily the most exhaustive F8U-3 work out there. Tommy has yet again done a fantastic job. I had no idea that there was a Vought missile competitor facing the Bendix design for the Eagle, and that they wanted to use it on a future Super Crusader. Same with Sparrow X, no idea it was a Super Crusader weapon consideration. Those details and the pile of photos and drawings were enough to win me over, but there's a whole wealth of great info in here as well on the design evolution, the initial competing designs, and the fly-off/procurement goings-on.
 
SOC said:
This is easily the most exhaustive F8U-3 work out there. Tommy has yet again done a fantastic job. I had no idea that there was a Vought missile competitor facing the Bendix design for the Eagle, and that they wanted to use it on a future Super Crusader. Same with Sparrow X, no idea it was a Super Crusader weapon consideration. Those details and the pile of photos and drawings were enough to win me over, but there's a whole wealth of great info in here as well on the design evolution, the initial competing designs, and the fly-off/procurement goings-on.
Click to expand...

I bought this from Amazon last week and I have to echo SOC's review. This is an excellent and exhaustive history and description of the F8U-3 that is full of fascinating details that I had never been aware of. I would also commend Tommy for his evenhanded analysis of the aircraft and the sort of competition it ultimately lost.
 
I liked that it finally sheds light on the speed question.
 

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