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| To meet a US Army Air Force requirement for a day fighter that could be used also as an escort fighter or dive-bomber, North American submitted a design known as the NA-140.
Two XP-86 prototypes of the NA-140 design were contracted in late 1944, but when German research data on the characteristics of swept wings became available soon after the end of the war, North American sought USAAF agreement to redesign the XP-86 to incorporate swept wings and tail surfaces. This cost a year's delay, and it was not until 1 October 1947 that the first prototype was flown, then powered by a Chevrolet-built General Electric TG-180 (or J35-C-3) turbojet of 1701kg thrust; on 25 April 1948, by then re-engined with a General Electric J47 turbojet as the YP-86A, this aircraft exceeded a speed of Mach 1 in a shallow dive. The first production version was the P-86A, powered initially by a 2200kg thrust General Electric J47-GE-1 turbojet and flown first on 20 May 1948. A month later USAF redesignation resulted in the P-86A becoming the F-86A and in 1949, by which time it had gained the name Sabre, the new fighter began to enter service with the USAF's 1st, 4th and 81st Fighter Groups, the 94th Squadron of the 1st Fighter Group receiving the first in February 1949. F-86A production totalled 554, the majority having 2359kg thrust J47-GE-3, -7, -9, or -13 turbo-jets. Subsequent production, arranged chronologically, included the F-86E with an all-moving tailplane, and the F-86F (1,539) with a modified wing. Most extensively built was the ensuing F-86D (2,054), a redesigned all-weather/night fighter, followed by the F-86H fighter-bomber (477) with powerful J73 engine, and the F-86K (120) which was a simplified version of the F-86D. Under the designation TF-86 two dual-control trainers were produced as conversions of F-86Fs, and the designation F-86L was applied to rebuilds (827) from F-86Ds, which introduced an increased span wing and updated avionics. The F-86B (deeper fuselage and larger tyres) and F-86C (redesigned fuselage) did not enter production. In addition to aircraft built by North American, Canadair Ltd in Montreal built 60 F-86Es for the USAF, followed by 290 generally similar Sabre Mk 2 fighters, comprising 230 for the RCAF and 60 for the. Mutual Defense Assistance Program. Canadian production continued with one Sabre Mk 3 to flight test the indigenous Orenda engine, 438 Sabre Mk 4 for the RAF with General Electric engines, 370 Sabre Mk 5 aircraft with the 2883kg thrust Orenda 10 turbojet, and 655 Sabre Mk 6 aircraft with the 3300kg thrust Orenda 14. The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Australia also became involved in Sabre production, modifying the airframe for
two 30mm Adens and the 3402kg thrust Rolls-Royce Avon 26 engine, and built for the RAAF 21 Sabre Mk 30 and 20 Sabre Mk 31 aircraft,
plus 69 Sabre Mk32 fighters with Australian-built engines. Fiat in Italy assembled 221 F-86Ks from North American-built kits of components, and production in Japan began in the same way, with Mitsubishi leading a group of Japanese companies which first assembled, then increasingly constructed, a total of 300 similar to the F-86F and RF-86F.
 | A three-view drawing (502 x 839) |
| MODEL | F-86D |
| CREW | 1 |
| ENGINE | 1 x General Electric J47-GE-17B, 33.34kN |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 7756 kg | 17099 lb |
| Empty weight | 5656 kg | 12469 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 11.30 m | 37 ft 1 in |
| Length | 12.29 m | 40 ft 4 in |
| Height | 4.57 m | 15 ft 0 in |
| Wing area | 27.76 m2 | 298.81 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 1138 km/h | 707 mph |
| Ceiling | 16640 m | 54600 ft |
| Range | 1344 km | 835 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 24 x 69.9mm missiles |
| John Rumph, e-mail, 27.12.2009 06:28 The best of the best. I flew the F-86E /F at Nellis and with the 416th Fighter-bomber Sqdn. at Chambley A.B. France 1955-1957. A Fighter pilots airplane. Hope a lot of you Desert Rats are still around. reply | | John Rumph, e-mail, 27.12.2009 06:26 The best of the best. I flew the F-86E /F at Nellis and with the 416th Fighter-bomber Sqdn. at Chambley A.B. France 1955-1957. A Fighter pilots airplane. Hope a lot of you Desert Rats are still around. reply | | Sam Herron, e-mail, 03.12.2009 00:30 I flew the F-86 at Nellis AFB, Foster AFB and at Chambley AB, France. I loved it. reply | | Steve, e-mail, 22.09.2009 21:03 At the same time the F-86 was being armed with six .50 guns of the speeded-up M3 version - which would prove inadequate in Korea - the B-36 was being armed with 20mm guns. Sounds like the fighter and bomber communities weren't talking to each other! reply | |
| | paul scott, e-mail, 10.09.2009 23:13 Definitely the Mustang (OK, I know, not the range) of the post war skies. A true dogfighting classic! reply | | Jock Williams, e-mail, 19.04.2009 23:23 It took me a number of years to scrounge my way into the cockpit of a Sabre -and I only got a few hours -but it was an absolute delight. It had bags of power, you sat up high and had great visibility in all directions -and it handled like a dream. It was the F16 of its generation -or the Spitfire of an earlier breed.
Those of us who may later have flown way faster didn't fly anything "way better". The luckiest guys of all got to fly both the Sabre and the '104! I don't think you will get much debate on that!
Jock Williams Yogi 13 reply | | Tom54, e-mail, 29.07.2008 09:39 Come on guys, if you really flew the H model, you had to know it didn't have an afterburner. It didn't need it. It had more dry thrust than the D /K /L / models WITH afterburner. KISS, fellow F-86 Sabre Pilots Association members. reply | | Jerry Fowler, e-mail, 27.05.2008 00:32 Anyone who flew the F-86F, F-86H and F-86D (I flew all three) and said the "D" was "fun to fly" must have been smoking something funny or has a strange idea of flying fun. And, where did R. O. Miller get the idea that the "F" had wing guns and the "H" an afterburner? Whew! reply | | ROBERT KING, e-mail, 25.05.2008 00:25 I flew the aircraft as a fighter-bomber. The ability to strafe wit the aircraft was diminished by the swept wings but once learned to stay off the rudders the 6 50cal. guns put down 7200 rounds per sec. but it still was an air-to-air bird. reply | | Ben Overstreet, e-mail, 17.05.2008 18:51 Some notes about the F-86H. Early airplanes had six .50s in the forward fuselage, later ones had 4 20mm cannon, same location. No "H' airplanes had afterburner. Neither did they have cartridge starters-they had a spherical air bottle powering a small combustion starter and recharged by a compressor after engine start. Some had slats on the wing leading edges, others were "hard wing" birds. No doubt, the most fun-to-fly airplane of any that I flew. reply | | James C Few, LTC USAF Ret, e-mail, 09.05.2008 19:04 The F-86H model did NOT have an afterburner or drag chute.(only the D model did). I flew the H as a 1st Lt. at Clovis (Cannon AFB) just before we switched to the F-100D in 1956-57). It had a larger airframe and entirely different engine than the E /F models. and had a higher rate of climb and ceiling. I don't recall the specs. At that time it's primary mission was Tactical Nuke delivery. The engine was started with a "shotgun" cartridge rather than a external power supply like the E /F. The E /F model was the most fun to fly than any aircraft I ever flew: See the bottom of my C.V. at jimfew.home.mchsi.com reply | | Charles Cleveland, e-mail, 02.05.2008 17:55 (F-86 pilot) The 86 could not break the sound barrier "in a shallow dive." It took a very steep dive, i.e., straight down. Also, R.O. Miller is indeed wrong about the 86F having three guns in each wing - they were mounted in the forward section of the fuselage. reply | | Jon, e-mail, 29.04.2008 05:32 I was a crew chief on the F86F for 3 years. It had six 50 caliber machine guns located on the front fuselage. The latest ones we had were capable of delivering atomic weapons with the LABS system. They lobbed A-bombs from under the left wing controlled by the LABS system. reply | | R. O. Miller, e-mail, 30.03.2008 22:33 F-86F had 6-50 cal. machine guns, 3 in each wing.
The F-86H had 4-20mm cannon, 2 on each side of the nose. It also had an afterburner and it never saw combat. The F-86D /L was fun to fly with afterburner, drag chute, 2-axis autopilot and ground mapping and radar beacon search. Speed in level flight with afterburner was approx. .94 mach. reply | |
| | cinewill, 07.08.2007 21:08 I'm a 100% that the Korean War Sabre has SIX nose mounted 50 cal machine guns, 3 on each side of the cockpit. Later variants had Cannon. Better 3-view needed! reply | | Sgt.kar98, 07.05.2007 04:28 What´s the main difference of the Sabre and the Fury? reply | | NIMIZ, e-mail, 29.12.2006 14:24 the sabre has 4 machine guns reply |
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