[2][3] However, at the time the first ship was commissioned in 1961, France's domestic aviation industry had yet to develop a modern, high-performance, carrier-based interceptor, with Clemenceau's air defence squadron made up of 10 SNCASE Aquilons, a license-built version of the de Havilland Sea Venom.

[1] The Aquilon had been in service since 1954 and was rapidly approaching obsolescence, which led to a procurement exercise being undertaken to find a new air defence aircraft to operate from the new carriers.

[5] Both were in service in the US Navy, but the Phantom, being significantly larger in size, was used in air defence squadrons aboard the large carriers of the Midway, Forrestal, Enterprise and Kitty Hawk classes.

The majority of the US carrier fleet was made up of ships of the Essex class, which were a similar size to Clemenceau, and utilised the Crusader as their primary air defence aircraft.

However, the two-seat version was cancelled by the US Government, leading to France's order being amended to 42 single-seat aircraft, which proved to be the final Crusaders to be built.

[9] The maximum angle of the aircraft's variable-incidence wing was reduced from 7° to 5°, which improved the handling characteristics at the lower required speed, while boundary layer control was added.

This took high-pressure air from the engine and, using special vents located on the wings and tail, blew it over the flight control surfaces, thus improving the low-speed characteristics of the aircraft.

This, combined with the addition of leading-edge slats and a increase in the surface area of the tail, were all aimed at providing stability for the aircraft when landing on the smaller decks of the French carriers, which was at speeds of approximately 15 kn (17 mph) less than Crusaders operated by the US Navy.

As a result, in order to retain an interceptor for use aboard its aircraft carriers, the Navy undertook a modernisation programme to update its remaining Crusaders for another decade's worth of service.

A total of 17 Crusaders were therefore earmarked to undergo the upgrade, in which the hydraulic and electrical systems were completely overhauled, reinforcement of the airframe to deal with fatigue issues was done, and a new ejector seat fitted.

Rather than a new-build airframe being produced, an existing F-8D aircraft was obtained and underwent major conversion to incorporate the various features intended to be found on the production models.

The prototype (BuNo 147036), which was designated as a YF-8E(FN), first flew on 27 February 1964, fitted with a stall warning system, an autothrottle and equipment to measure the aircraft's characteristics during the planned test programme.

[13][4] By late 1964, sufficient airframes had been delivered to allow a full scale programme of flight deck trials – in November, the second and third production models were used aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La by pilots from both France and the United States.

On 6 October 1964, the initial batch of 13 aircraft were loaded aboard Arromanches at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia for transport back to France.

Arromanches arrived in Saint-Nazaire on 4 November, with its load of aircraft disembarked for transport to BAN Lann-Bihoué in Britanny, which was the new home base of the Crusader force.

[14] Five months after 12F was reformed, the Aéronavale formed a second Crusader squadron, Flottille 14F, on 1 March 1965, while the remaining 29 aircraft were transported from the United States aboard Foch.

During the early 1970s, opportunities were available to engage in dissimilar air combat training with Phantoms of the Royal Navy, which were stationed on the opposite side of the English Channel at RNAS Yeovilton.

However, the Phantom could carry large external fuel tanks, allowing it to undertake air combat manoeuvring for longer than the Crusader.

At the time, the ship was in the Red Sea preparing for Operation Saphir II, a major deployment intended to ensure the peaceful transition of the Territory of the Afars and the Issas, one of the last French colonial possessions in Africa, to independence as the new Republic of Djibouti.

[6][7] The incident off Djibouti proved to be one of the last major deployments undertaken by 14F as, in April 1979, the squadron was disbanded to reform as a strike unit operating the new Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard.

[20] The Crusader had last been used as an interceptor in the US Navy in 1976, and was finally withdrawn from frontline service when VFP-63, a photographic reconnaissance squadron operating the RF-8G version, was disbanded in June 1982.

[40] Of the 29 losses, the majority were F-8E(FN) variants, with the last of these taking place in March 1992, when n°6 of 12F crashed while attempting a landing at Kalamata Air Base in Greece.