The RF-8 is the photo-reconnaissance version of Vought's famous F-8 Crusader. RF-8s of VFP-62 played a critical role during the Cuban Missile Crisis providing intelligence on Soviet missiles that had been transferred to Cuba. In 1957" John Glenn" first American to orbit Earth and later an Ohio senator, made the first supersonic transcontinental flight in a photo Crusader" flying from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8.3 seconds.