Rare flyover - F-86 Sabre

[FourWheelDrift]

F-86A G-SABR in United States Air Force markings as 48-0178 and the worlds oldest flying jet flew directly over here a short time ago.

Sounded great.

Here it is at Duxford.



What with a heard but not seen Merlin multi-engine flyover this morning (Lanc or Spits/Hurricane) it's quite a busy day for warbirds.

[Eric Mc]

She's lovely, isn't she.

I always think the F-86 still looks modern - even after 60 years.

[72twink]

I saw it was out when I went past Duxford on Sunday.

[kiteless]

Maybe a poor analogy, but I'd compare the Sabre to the 246 Dino.

Not the fastest, not the most agile, but my word it's a looker. Perfect proportions.

[Eric Mc]

kiteless said:

Maybe a poor analogy, but I'd compare the Sabre to the 246 Dino.

Not the fastest, not the most agile, but my word it's a looker. Perfect proportions.

In its day, it was the fastest.

[mybrainhurts]

Eric Mc said:

She's lovely, isn't she.

I always think the F-86 still looks modern - even after 60 years.

Seem to remember them being sold off for $15,000, long, long ago...

[kiteless]

Eric Mc said:

kiteless said:

Maybe a poor analogy, but I'd compare the Sabre to the 246 Dino.

Not the fastest, not the most agile, but my word it's a looker. Perfect proportions.

In its day, it was the fastest.

I always thought the MiG-15 had the edge. More than happy to stand corrected though

[Eric Mc]

kiteless said:

Eric Mc said:

kiteless said:

Maybe a poor analogy, but I'd compare the Sabre to the 246 Dino.

Not the fastest, not the most agile, but my word it's a looker. Perfect proportions.

In its day, it was the fastest.

I always thought the MiG-15 had the edge. More than happy to stand corrected though

The F-86 held the world air speed record for a short while. I don't think a MiG 15 ever did.

Obviously, the combat variants were not going to have the same performance as a plane slated for an air speed record attempt. In addition, during the Korean Wat, the USAF and South African Air Force flew a number of different F-86 variants, including the F-86A, F-86E and (I think), the F-86F.
Like the Spitfire I and 109E in the Battle of Britain, how well an F-86 performed against a MiG-15 was often down to the skill of the relative pilots and the tactics adopted.
Post Korea, further versions were the all weather F-86D, the export version of that, the F-86K and a day fighter development of the F-86D, the F-86H. Variants of the F-86 were also built in Canada and Australia.

All of these variants and sub-variants had differeing characteristics and performances.

[Ginetta G15 Girl]

Mig 15 had superior performance to the Sabre above 30,000 ft.

[Eric Mc]

It had certain charactteristics that made it a better fighter in some areas compared to the Sabre - especially the F-86A variant.
Did the Korean War era MiG-15s have radar gun control?

[Mojocvh]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

Mig 15 had superior performance to the Sabre above 30,000 ft.

Along the lines of Mirage/Sea Harrier a decade or three later, funny how the lesser performer prevailed in both cases

It's always the case where the difference in the operators skill and sheer ruthlessness is seemingly discounted in the final reckoning.

[Eric Mc]

Look what the Finns could do with Brewster Buffalos.

[kiteless]

I remember a documentary from some years ago whereby a retired RAF pilot was recounting his day training Korean pilots. Now, I can't remember whether they were North or South Korean but part of his anecdote was thus:

"The problem was, you see, they didn't have the currency to fly fast jets and had a nasty habit of bumping into hills at 500 knots".

Spoken in an awfully correct Leslie Phillips accent, and wearing a blazer and tie.

[Eric Mc]

I doubt they were North Korean - unless he was an Eton educated Soviet Air Force pilot.

[Mojocvh]

Eric Mc said:

I doubt they were North Korean - unless he was an Eton educated Soviet Air Force pilot.

Oxford more likely

[MartG]

Eric Mc said:

She's lovely, isn't she.

I always think the F-86 still looks modern - even after 60 years.

Agreed - I saw it display at Sunderland a few weeks ago, beautiful to watch :-)

[Thunderace]

Saw one displaying at Abbotsford, BC a couple of weeks ago.

[nebpor]

FourWheelDrift said:

F-86A G-SABR in United States Air Force markings as 48-0178 and the worlds oldest flying jet flew directly over here a short time ago.

Sounded great.

Here it is at Duxford.



What with a heard but not seen Merlin multi-engine flyover this morning (Lanc or Spits/Hurricane) it's quite a busy day for warbirds.

Was having a catch-up with a new workmate in Japan this morning and his dad flew this during the Korean War! Just reading up on it ….

His dad went on to become a US Air Force general and married a Japanese woman, settling in Japan

[aeropilot]

nebpor said:

FourWheelDrift said:

F-86A G-SABR in United States Air Force markings as 48-0178 and the worlds oldest flying jet flew directly over here a short time ago.

Sounded great.

Here it is at Duxford.



What with a heard but not seen Merlin multi-engine flyover this morning (Lanc or Spits/Hurricane) it's quite a busy day for warbirds.

Was having a catch-up with a new workmate in Japan this morning and his dad flew this during the Korean War! Just reading up on it ….

What do you mean by 'this' though...?

As that particular aircraft, 48-0178 which was the 50th F-86 built, never flew in the Korean War.

[nebpor]

I mean the type, not that fuselage