North American F-86 Sabre
Technical Information

Background
Designed and built by North American Aviation (NAA) for the U.S. Air Force (USAF), the F-86 Sabre was the United States first swept wing fighter. Developed in the late 1940s, the Sabre proved versatile and adaptable. The F-86 was produced as both a fighter-interceptor and fighter-bomber with several variants introduced during production. In 1956, production ceased. The last Sabres were used by the Bolivian Air Force until retired in 1994.

Korean War
During the Korean War, three squadrons of F-86s were rushed to Far East in December 1950 to counter the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15. Early variants of the F-86 could not out turn, but could out dive the MiG-15. Initially, the MiG-15 was superior to early F-86 models in ceiling, acceleration, rate of climb and zoom. With the introduction of the F-86F in 1953, the two aircraft were more closely matched, with many combat-experienced pilots claiming a marginal superiority for the F-86F. MiGs flown from bases in Manchuria by Red Chinese, North Korean, and Soviet VVS pilots were pitted against two squadrons of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing with their forward base at Gimpo Airport (Kimpo, K-14).

Production
Between 1949-1956 a total of 9,860 aircraft were built.
North American built a total of 6,297 F-86s and 1,115 FJs
Fiat built 221 aircraft
Mitsubishi built 300 aircraft
Canadair Sabre built 1,815 in Canada
Australian Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) built 112

Technical Details (F-86F-40-NA)
Crew  1 (pilot)
Engine  1 x General Electric J47-GE-27 turbojet, 5,910 lbf
Span  37' / 11.3m
Length  37' 1" / 11.4m
Height  14' 1" / 4.5m
Maximum Speed  687 mph at sea level
Range  1,525 miles
Capaicity  6 x .50 caliber Browning M3 machine guns with 1,800 rounds (300 per gun)
External  Up to 5,300 lbs of bombs or rockets on four external hard points or 2 x 200 gallon drop tanks