North American F-86 Sabre

History of the North American F-86 Saber

The F-86 Sabre is a product of North American Airlines based in the United States of America. The aircraft played a vital role in the Korean War, regaining air superiority for NATO allies and rivaling Mikoyan-Gurevich's mighty MiG-15 "Fagot".

While the standard armament of 6 machine guns can't match the MiG-15's artillery prowess, pilot training and tactics play an important role in the long run, especially when the Sabre pilots are veterans and WWII ace, and they are North Korea and China The pilot is relatively green when it comes to jet dogfights. Only Soviet-controlled MiGs posed a serious threat, as demonstrated in the early months of the conflict.

Still, the F-86 Saber emerged as the victor of the war, making more pilots aces and ultimately forcing a standoff on the Korean peninsula.

Saber Origins

At this point in history (in the post-WWII world) North America has already made a name for itself with the success of the P-51 Mustang. Like others around it, the company then began to look to the future of flight namely jets and began developing its own designs in 1944. This design features a solid cockpit, straight wings, nose air intakes, bubble caps and a single turbojet. The design was finally submitted to the U.S. Navy under the designation FJ-1 Fury on January 1, 1945, where it was accepted.

Prototypes appeared in late 1946, and the initial 100 production examples were reduced to just 30.

Nonetheless, the experience gained in developing the Fury led North American companies to investigate larger versions of the aircraft for possible marketing to the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces, which later became USAF in 1947). Three of the XP-86 prototypes, ordered in May 1945, had straight wings but were similar in every way to their Rampage blood.

The fall of the Third Reich in 1945 gave American aircraft engineers (as well as those of other nations) unprecedented opportunities to study German swept wing designs. The swept wing was then added to the revised XP-86 design. The USAF ordered 30 production models without a completed prototype, and later added 158 more with some modifications, bringing the total to 554 P-86A models.

By this time (1948) the U.S. Air Force had become the U.S. Air Force, and the "Pursuit" naming convention for "P" resulted in the "F" for "Fighter". And just like that, the F-86A was born. Deliveries to the U.S.

Air Force began in three batches in February 1949, and the system was officially given the designation "Saber" after a naming contest.

Sabre Design

While the original design featured straight wings, the revised design and later production models featured swept wings and tail surfaces. The monoplane wings were mounted low on the sides of the fuselage, each with a slight V-shape. The wings are placed forward in the design and extend rearward, giving the Sabre a striking silhouette.

The body isn't really cylindrical, although it has rounded edges when viewed from the front. The leading edge is truncated and consists of the intake duct that feeds the engine. Ducts, engines and exhaust systems run the length of the fuselage all the way to the bottom of the tail. The pilot has excellent visibility from his forward-facing cockpit, which has a hinged, throwaway canopy and a large curved frameless glass surface - only the front of the canopy has a frame.

The cockpit is located directly in front of the root of the wing and behind the intake duct. Accommodation is the equivalent of a pilot in an ejection seat. A single-engine powerplant is at the heart of the design.

The fins are of the traditional type, with a single vertical fin and a horizontal surface with a distinctive V-shape. The landing gear is a traditional tricycle arrangement with two main independent gears stowed inwards and the nose gear with a single wheel stowed under the cockpit.

Saber variant

XP-86 was Saber's original name, although it was later changed to XF-86. North America positioned this design as the NA-140 model.

XF-86 was the codename for the prototype day fighter, for which three prototypes were built.

The YF-86A was the first prototype to be equipped with a GE J47 series turbojet.

The F-86A became Sabre's first mass-produced aircraft and was the first to be delivered to the front lines during the Korean War. The first flight took place in May 1948. Power comes from a GE J47 turbojet rated at 4,850 pounds of thrust. These were gradually improved in a series of four upgraded J47 engines, culminating in 5,200 pounds of thrust.

Armament includes 6 x 12.7mm machine guns and optional 8 x 5" rockets or 2,000-pound bombs under the wings for offensive strikes. The model's capabilities include a top speed of 685 mph, a range of 1,200 miles, and a combat ceiling of 49,000 feet.

F Production of the -86A ended in December 1950 with a total of 554 delivered. One F-86A model on display set the Sabre's first world speed record in September 1948, reaching a top speed of 670 mph.

Another The land speed record was set on November 19, 1952 at 698.505 miles per hour, and then again on July 16, 1953 - this time at 715.697 miles per hour.

The F-86A spawned the DF-86A UAV director conversion. Likewise, 11 A-models became RF-86A reconnaissance aircraft with three cameras.

The F-86B followed. The U.S. Air Force ordered 188 as an upgrade to the existing F-86A model, but the order eventually turned the planes into the F-86A-5 model.

The F-86C was the original designation for the YF-93A, originally designed to meet the requirements of the USAF penetrating fighter-bomber escort competition. The F-86C evolved into such a different aircraft that it was given the new designation YF-93A. The aircraft competed with the McDonnell XF-88 (later the F-101 Voodoo) and the Lockheed XF-90 (never produced).

Despite the eventual cancellation of the penetration fighter program, the USAF still placed an order for 118 F-93A variants, but the order itself was cancelled due to the promising results of Boeing's B-47 Stratojet program, a new high-speed bomber without an escort. [ /p]

The YF-93A was designed as two prototypes, S/N 48-317 and S/N 48-318. The first prototype had two scavenging intake ducts running along the sides of the fuselage, unlike the Sabers underslung intakes. This arrangement allows avionics to be placed in the fuselage between two parallel air intakes.

The second prototype has more conventional air intakes, although both have newer and stronger nose landing gear to handle the extra weight of the extra fuel storage. Power comes from a Series 1 x Pratt & Whitney J48 8,750 lbs turbojet with afterburner.

Performance is quoted as a top speed of 708 mph, a range of 1,967 miles, and a service ceiling of 46,800 feet. The aircraft's intended armament must be special, including a 6 x 20mm cannon.

Although work was done on the machines, they became a test bed for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and were eventually scrapped.

F-95 is the original designation for the F-86D "Dog Saber"/"Sabre Dog" model. Prototypes include aircraft S/N 50-577 and S/N 50-578. These prototypes were initially the YF-95A prototypes, later designated the YF-86D, and eventually the F-86D.

As a result, the production D model was originally designated the F-93A fighter jet, but it was changed to the F-86D before the production line began introducing the model.

The original F-95A was designed as a day and night all-weather interceptor. The aircraft features swept wings and tails, bottom intake duct fairings, external fuel tank arrangements, fully articulated horizontal stabilizer, hydraulically powered irreversible controls and an F-5 autopilot system. The cockpit has a differential pressure of 5.0 psi and is equipped with anti-g suit controls and an integrated cooling and heating system. The flaps on the YF-93A are single-slot electric. The speedbrakes are hydraulically operated and placed in the rear of the hull.

Two YF-95A prototypes were produced. These models became YF-86D. Of course, the F-95A Sabre was never built, but there were about 2,500 F-85D models.

The F-86D "Dog Saber" is essentially a "brand new" saber model. The production model was based on the YF-95A prototype, which first flew on December 22, 1949. But the Model D didn't serve in the Korean War, while the Models A, E, and F - as expected, were not named in the same order as they were commissioned.

The F-86D is an all-weather interceptor and, in every way, a bomber-fighter. There were two YF-86D systems resulting in a total of approximately 2,506 F-86D production models.

The Model D is nothing like the previous Sabre variant - it's bigger, more powerful, and only shares 25% of the parts of the previous form. The nose radome is a recognizable feature of the model type.

The F-86D was the first USAF aircraft to have a pure missile weapon mounted in a ventral weapons "tray" containing the 24 x 2.75 inch "Mighty Mouse" Folding Tail Aviation Rocket (FFAR) - Hence the "Bomber Destroyer", the F-86D's solo pilot tasked with operating the aircraft, while equipped with Hughes Aircraft's advanced collision course radar fire control system - most designs of this level of sophistication typically require two people A dedicated second crew member is required in the cockpit To install this interceptor radar and fire control equipment, the F-86D model has a pronounced "nose" cone that extends to the existing Sabre intake duct forward of the hull Open top.

Using a fire control computer and radar, the aircraft could literally "fly" to the calculated target location. Once the aircraft is within 500 yards of the target, it lowers its retractable missile platform and fires a 24 x 2.75" Mighty Mouse missile at the target (possibly an enemy bomber) - all performed automatically by the computer. [/p ]

The F-86D is powered by 1 General Electric J47-GE-33 turbojet rated at 5,550 lbs of thrust and (final) up to 7,650 lbs of thrust, with afterburners. Performance is quoted as a top speed of 761 mph, a range of 800 miles and a combat ceiling of 50,000 feet. Production of the Model D officially ended in September 1953.

This model spawned the F-86G, YF-86K, F-86K and F-86L models.

The F-86G is based on the F-86D, but with improved engines and some internal system changes. Although 406 were eventually produced, the F-86G designation was not used. Instead, the planes themselves were delivered as F-86D models.

Two YF-86K models were modified from existing F-86D models. This model became the production F-86K, with the main difference being that the full rocket armament (and corresponding weapon tray) was replaced by a 4 x 20mm M-24A1 cannon. In addition, the aircraft are equipped with APG-37 series radars and MG-4 fire control systems. 120 of these sabers were produced as the F-86K, and some were licensed elsewhere.

The F-86K model became a major NATO product.

The F-86L is a modified version of the F-86D. Between 800 and 981 F-86D models were upgraded to this standard, including lengthened leading edges, lengthened wingtips, upgraded engines and new electronics. The dashboards of these models have also been revised.

The F-86L was deployed in large numbers around the world (including the United States) to defend against Soviet air strikes.

The F-86E is an "upgraded" version of the F-86A with electric controls and an adjustable "full flying tail". The development of this all-flying tail system was part of the reason the Sabre was successful against the MiG in the Korean War. Eight hundred examples were produced and used in the Korean War. This version of the Canadian-made model entered the Canadian Air Force, Royal Air Force and West German Air Force.

Despite the designation of the E model, the aircraft actually ranks second in operational service after the A model.