Though it was the competitor considered least likely to succeed as a result of producing three earlier disappointing fighters for the Navy (F5U, F6U Pirate, and F7U Cutlass), Chance-Vought won the bid over seven other manufacturers. Its design was the F8U (later redesignated F-8) Crusader and it became one of the most capable fighters of the post-World War II era, a sleek design that featured a gaping jet intake beneath the fuselage and variable-incidence wing that could be raised. With the aircraft's cockpit located far forward on the fuselage, the wing correspondingly lowered the angle of incidence to provide the pilot better visibility when approaching the carrier deck or runway. It also allowed the aircraft to land and take off at slow speeds.

In an era in which fighter pilots relied increasingly on missiles, the Crusader retained 20mm cannon, prompting its pilots to call it the "Last of the Gunfighters." The F-8 made history almost immediately. Commander Robert W. Windsor established a national speed record on 21 August 1956, reaching 1,015.428 M.P.H. over a 15-kilometer course. In so doing, the F-8 became the first operationally equipped jet aircraft to fly faster that 1,000 M.P.H. On 16 July 1957 future astronaut Major John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC, flew a photoreconnaissance version of the aircraft in a record transcontinental flight, taking off from Los Alamitos, California, and reaching Floyd Bennett Field, New York, in 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 50.05 seconds.

Crusaders flew their first combat missions triggering cameras instead of weapons as part of the photoreconnaissance flights over Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. F-8s also logged these missions as well as strike and combat air patrol flights throughout the Vietnam War, with Crusader pilots credited with shooting down eighteen enemy MiGs in aerial combat.

The RF-8A photoreconnaissance aircraft were the last U.S. Navy Crusaders in the air and were retired from the Naval Air Reserve in 1987. However, the French Navy operated the type until 1999.