In several news reports lately, I’ve heard that the chinese fighter that collided with the EP-3 was a “Chinese F-8 fighter jet”. In one computer simulation, in fact, the fighter had the same look as the American F-8 Crusader. Is it possible they are flying old U.S. Navy planes or is it more likely that it is a different plane altogether and just classified thereby limiting the info. that have on it?
It’s not an F-8 Crusader. That’s the US designation system.
The plane was a Shenyang F-8, an indigenous design adapted from various Soviet models (including the MiG-23) and which, ironically, Grumman has agreed a $245m deal to re-engineer to the F-8 II standard.
It is not an ex-US jet. I am far from a fountain of knowledge on Chinese aircraft but as I understand the F-8 aircraft it appears to be a kind of bastardization of a Mig21 and 23. Both technologies are approaching 40 years old now.
The F-8 was first tested in 1964 and even at the upgraded F-8 II standard isn’t regarded as being a particularly dangerous aircraft; the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has around 200 F-8s and about 55 F-8 IIs. It’s very much a quantity over quality trade-off.
Here’s a helpful web page on the F-8 (also known as the J-8) fighter.