The Vought F-8 Crusader was such a plane, and was the very last offensive fighter jet to use machine guns as its primary armament when it was delivered to the U.S. Navy in the 1950s.

Had things gone differently, the U.S. Navy’s top Cold War fighter jet could have been the F-8 Crusader instead of the F-4 Phantom. But not the legendary Crusader that bested MiGs over North ...