Originally Posted by
ryan1234
I'm anxious to hear the answers/views of those questions as well. It was my understanding that the F-8 was the last fighter designed around a gun as its primary weapon and it was designed to use that in a turning fight... while on the other hand the F-4 was designed around the missle. Whether that is completely accurate I'm not sure.... it'd be interesting to hear about it from those that flew each. I suppose that an orginal F-8 would be better for a close, guns only fight than an orginal F-4... because I don't think the orginal F-4s had guns.
The F-4 grew out of an offering from McDonnell for a Super Demon. The Demon was like many 50s fighter limited by its engine. Some early Demons were in fact never flown but loaded on barges and floated down the Mississippi out of St Louis to mechanics schools. Later Demons had better engines but the plane was short-lived in service. McDonnell began work on a single seat twin engine Super Demon that evolved into the F-4. The Super Demon had guns. The Phantom did not. In fact, except for gun pods, the gun didn't show up on the F-4 until the E.
The Demon...
Note the extended empennage and horizontal slabs on the Demon with the exhaust beneath.. similar to the F-4.
The Super Demon...
