SABRE: Development And Evolution Of The F-86 From Straight Wings To GUNVAL 

Hey everyone. This is a re-uploaded version of last Friday’s video. I had to remove a portion of it as I had inadvertently infringed a copyright. Sorry for any confusion!

It's amazing how often quality historical content has issues on RU-vid but absolute crap never does.

Flying this in DCS World. Really appreciate how many people are working hard to keep the Legacy of the F-86 alive and well.

My Dad was a usaf Line Chief; the F-86s were always in for repairs...as a Young Boy...I Loved coming to his hangar; and seeing the F-86s.

I saw a jet like this flying low over Tallulah Falls Georgia about five years ago. It was swept wing and silver and had that unusual air scoop in the nose. It was a treat to see it fly.

At 27:14 you mention that some hydraulic systems were redesigned due to sudden failures. My uncle E.H. Harris was flying his Sabre sometime in 1951 or 52 when he suddenly heard an explosion. His engine died and the hydraulics didn’t work. He was in training at Luke AFB. He didn’t want to bail out so he made a dead stick landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport. They were able to save the plane and analyze the problem. The engine had lost a turbine blade and it severed the hydraulic lines. After this they modified the hydraulic system so it wouldn’t happen again.

It was raining drop tanks, I wonder how many people were clobbered by one and you can bet that many were re-purposed. I thought the start cart was a hot dog stand to make the crews feel at home. Thanks for the interesting history and the super pics and videos, there's still so much we haven't seen In relation to WWII.

Man, you just make such damn good videos! These vid essays are pure gold; I've learned so much more about this era from watching your stuff - made more watchable by your commendably sober and neutral approach to each subject - and I hope you keep the desire to carry on making them for a while yet. Many thanks. (Also, thanks for pronouncing 'Oerlikon' correctly - a number of very learned and popular 'tubers & historians seem to have a bit of difficulty with it.) - Yes, this is a re-uploaded comment, because you deserve it.

Seen one at an Air Show at CFB Borden in Ontario Canada. It was so cool. Loved the way it flew and dove and turned.

the first time I got up close to a Sabre I was amazed how small it seemed - so really interesting that a pilot from the meteor felt it large in comparison.

Very interesting and well researched video. Canadair, in Cartierville Quebec, built over 1800 F-86 Sabres from 1950 - 1958. My father managed the shop that built the wings. In 1953 the Mk 5 Sabre, with a 6-3 wing and more powerful Orenda engine went into production. That same year Jacqueline Cochrane became the first woman to break the sound barrier, flying an RCAF Sabre Mk 2. I remember hearing sonic booms over my town, a few miles away from the Cartierville airport, in 1952 or '53. Canadair's production of F-86 Sabres went to RCAF squadrons stationed in West Germany, the RAF, and other NATO air forces.

Thank you for providing us with such unparalleled content. You are appreciated!

Gah copyright issues….. Anyway good that this video is back. Wished pc games like “Sabre Ace” and “MIG Alley” included the F-86 with 20-mm cannons.

Off topic based on P51 comment. Mustang was built with the Allison single stage V12 because that’s what the P40 Tomohawk used. Both were intended for low level use so no worries. A British test pilot saw the Mustang’s potential. Rolls Royce were given 5 airframes and 6 weeks later had a prototype flying. It looked clunky with a big under spinner air intake but was only 4mph slower than the finished version with intercooler alongside the main radiator.

Great video!! Even though this is a re-upload, I watched it all over again!

WOW!! VERY nicely done!! I am usually cringing 10 minutes into these videos, just because of the GLARING mistakes, but you have done a VERY NICE JOB with this!! KEEP IT UP young man!!

Excellent commentary, and putting the a/c service into perspective changed the way I view the USAF between Korea and Vietnam. Well done.

Outstanding video the second time around same as the first. My favorite aircraft channel. A+++

But when will you cover the best Sabres ever built - the Orenda-powered Canadair Sabre Mk. 5 and Mk. 6 which could fly rings around the others?

THE F-86 SABRE WAS A SUPERB DESIGN FOR A JET FIGHTER

“When the gunsight worked, it showed to have improved accuracy” 😂

XF-86: "hey Willy, can I copy your wings?" Me262: "sure, just change it a little so it's not obvious."

For an absolutely hilarious unintended comedy photo, go to 1:19 in this video and look at the ludicrous scene of what appears to be a British P-40 Kittyhawk heading down the runaway while in the background appears to be full grown man riding along side on top of his little toy version!

An excellent overview of the F-86! Subscribed!

Another big problem with the Me262 was the lack of quality materials, this had a serious detrimental effect on the operational life of its engines. Great commentary, you have a new subscriber. Respects from the UK.

Kudos on the use of footage from "The F-86's Are Coming!". I still laugh every time I watch that. Took our F-4 Phantoms to Kunsan Korea in the early 80's. Saw a bunch of Sabres and thought it was some kind of flight museum. Nope, The Korean Air Force was still flying them.

My dad was an apprentice tool and die maker at Ilinois Institute of Technology he worked on the T-160 Reverse engineering project and on a Boosted Rocket gun for the F-89 Scorpion. First full auto test with the T-160 on a range in the Indiana Dunes blew the roof off the firing bunker. A similar test with the boosted Rocket gun at 1,000 yards put all its rounds into a 1 mil circle so the F-89 got the 2.75 inch folding fin rockets nicknamed the Mighty Mouse with a better dispersion pattern also the F-86D got them also.

Outstanding detail!

North American Aviation in the 40s/50s was absolutely an innovative powerhouse. My father owns and flys a North American (not Ryan) Navion with a refitted high power engine, and it's an absolute DREAM to fly in. Initially built as a VIP transport plane, it's as close to flying a true warplane of the WW2 era as possible. It's counted as a warbird and he often flies in demonstrations and with a formation flying team. NAA just made amazing planes back then.

This is EXCELLENT!!!

Love the Sabre. Thank you for this video!

Wow Mr. you do put quite a lot of time, and effort into your shows. I really appreciate it, and shall be here to see you get to that 100k Mark! Good Job!

One of the small points that makes the Sabre a good looking aircraft is the little lip above the air intake. This houses the microwave horn aerial for the gun aiming electronics.

Thank you for all the hard work you put into these man.

I grew up to be a successful artists after drawing F-86 planes since kindergarten !

Great content. Loved all the detail.

Brit usage, "Valve"; US usage, "Vacuum Tube".

The oversimplified and misleading P-51 narrative needs to be adjusted. The British Purchasing Commission DID go to North American Aviation to ask NAA to build ALLISON engined P-40s. Instead they were persuaded to give the Allison-engined P-51 a roll of the dice. However, the usual omission is that Allison Mustang handily outperformed the P-40 that the BPC originally sought, so that could not have been a disappointment. Secondly, the contemporary Spitfire at that time was the Spitfire Mk.V, which also had a single-stage Merlin 45/50. The Allison Mustang was some 30 mph faster than the Spitfire Mk.V at 5,000 ft, and 35 mph faster than the Spitfire Mk.V at 15,000 ft. So again, an improvement. Both the Spitfire (in the Mk.IX) and the P-51 (B, C, D, and K) gained significantly improved altitude performance when fitted with the Merlin 60-series with two-stage, two-speed supercharger. It should be noted that Allison Mustang still held certain performance advantages over the Merlin variants of the Mustang at low-to-medium altitudes, and was better suited to long-range interdiction, tactical support and tactical reconnaissance at these altitudes.

Engineers at N. American were truly inspired. Yeager noted that we had the "flying-tail" which gave pilots the edge over the Migs.

As usual, an excellent video. Again, I would really love to look forward to a series of videos about the Iran vs Iraq war by you. Thank you.

Chuck Yeager is credited for the first person to break the sound barrier in level flight. I doubt an F-86 Sabre ever broke the sound barrier in level flight.

Good stuff. I gotta say I like the F-84 better but the 86 is pretty sweet too

Some good stuff here. Thank you!

You've done some good research here...nice work

Great video, as usual!

For those of us in the US the Radar "Valves" are what we call Vacuum Tubes....

Legend. You are so good at this.

The "bright spark" was allegedly Ron Harker, test pilot for Rolls Royce.

This is turning out to be a great channel +1 sub

Awesome!

Murray A. Winslow was my dad. He told my mother that when he fell into the Yellow River he touched the bottom of the earth. It took eighteen hours before the Marines picked him up. He attributed his ulcers to that experience. I was born only a few days before this event.

Excellent video. I have only ever seen a real sabre in a museum, but if DCS is accurate in its flight models, the Sabre is a much nicer plane to fly than the Mig-15. That T-tail really bites you at high angles of attack and like most Ruzzian things, the ergonomics are much poorer in the Mig. And yes, the virtual Mig can definitely take a beating but the 50cals have higher muzzle velocity which makes them much (much!) easier to aim than the 37 with its limited ammo that runs out quickly and even the 23s, the real meat and potatoes of the migs weaponry, are inferior in everything except damage, assuming you can hit something. From this virtual experience, I can see why they tried the high velocity 20s but the 50cals can work. As they have so much ammo, the pilot can spray quite a bit and after a few hits in the right places, even though the Mig is still dangerous, it flies at a disadvantage and is relatively easy to finish off. Of course, this is one part of the sim that is a lot of guesswork. Even with subject matter experts (retired pilots who flew the planes) there won’t be too many who know exactly how damage affects performance and rye won’t have modelled every possible type of damage. I repeat - all of this is virtual experience and with the best efforts in the world, the programmers may have missed a few tiny things that make a big difference. It’s also an older module so the developers have most likely got better at accuracy as time goes on. Anyway. The Sabre is a much prettier plane and when you are flying virtually for fun, that should not be discounted!

This is a fantastic video! It’s extremely informative and engaging. One thing I noticed is that the audio seems to trail off a bit when you cut between takes. Nothing too severe, and it doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment, but it’s one of the only flaws in this video. I hope to see your channel grow!

I can never decide if I like the Sabre or the Hunter more, they're both just so damn gorgeous.

Re-upload? STILL a GREAT VIDEO...👍

My father loved flying the F-86

It's funny thinking the F-100 Super Sabre was ultimately developed from the P-51

Cheers

It would have really spiced up the intro if he'd have mentioned how North American's roots back to Anthony Fokker's American aircraft company.

When was the wing fence added?

There are other variants worth mentioning.... License built by Canadair in Montreal, the Canadian Sabres featured more powerful Orenda engines. ;) I think the Aussies also improved theirs with hotter engines. Similar story with the T-33, Canadian license built versions featured Rolls Royce Nene 10 engines vs the Allison turbojets in the Lockheed T-birds. A bit more ooomph haha.

The basic design of the Sabre, like it's iconic predecessor, the D-model Mustang, was a testament to the axiom that if an aircraft LOOKS right, it most likely IS right. Compare the McDonnel-Douglas F-4 Phantom 2 which looks like it was designed by a committee of plumbers with it's higher dihedral outer wing and the negative dihedral tailplane. Granted the F-4 was a beast in combat, but it's a stretch to say it was a beautiful aircraft like the North American fighters.

A flyover of F-86A was part of the Sunday, 17 July 1955 grand opening of Disneyland.

well that's a really good video my friend North American Aviation of Los Angeles California was incredible company very incredible it had some of the best engineers in the country working for it including the f86 all previous aircraft including this aircraft cocktail napkin design aircraft. Yes that's right believe it or not some of the most incredible aircraft in the world we're firstly drawn on cocktail napkins for some reason the North American Aviation Engineers did their best design work at the bar. A few weeks after Chuck Yeager broke sound barrier the data and Technology came to North America the X1 break the sound barrier it was the Flying tail that Chuck Yeager and Jack Ridley designed that was the f86 secret weapon if it didn't have that flying tail the fa6 would not been able to break the sound Burger because the sound barrier like you did on the X1 would build up on the control service area of the tail and render it unusable just before the sound barrier would break so no control we were flying tail you can fly through the sound barrier without the build up on the control services. And today the flying tail is the thing on every fighter jet main command and anything else that goes fast but back to the plane. Harrison storms was a incredible engineer really incredible, his first week at North American Aviation was trying to get the weight down on the Doolittle B-25 so they can lift off Carrier deck of the hornet. Harrison storms was a model maker for many years as a kid and he said well you know instead of aluminum for all the control surfaces we can go back to just fabric cover control services and that would save me a huge amount of weight and that's what they did and they made surfaces bigger too they enlarged the flaps so more air could be shoved underneath them when they need to take off The Courier deck that's one of the first things Harrison Stones did when he was he novice engineer at the North American Aviation company but he took on a lot of the aerodynamic engineering on the f-86 all the different models including the last models the H and J models also. the f-86 if you get a chance to send one is something else it was built like a Cadillac seriously it was very well put together. I know a lot about North American Aviation cuz my father worked for North American Aviation from 1953 to 1984

Worth going back to the origins of North American Aviation and recognise that they were not a new company- in fact they were the offspring of a company with a pretty legendary track record for fighter aircraft: Fokker.

and then there was the Australian CAC Avon Sabre - where does it fit in model line up?

Wow!

The South Korean Air Force flew the F-86's well into the mid-1970's and up until the 1980's. I used to watch them fly at Osan AFB and they were very quiet and efficient when flown by ROKAF pilots. 🪖

Always wondered about the sexiest nose cone of all time the mini protrusion. I always thought it to be crafted in aluminium but was disappointed to learn it was a glass molding.

The Royal Netherlands Airforce deployed the F-86K model, with an enlarged radar nose, because of which it had all weather capabilities. I missed this type in your excellent video. Is there a reason why?

Thank goodness for closed captioning, even bad CC can be a help. In WW2 documentaries where the German, Russian and French are subtitled allow this poor American the ability to understand what those vet's are saying buy when the British vet's speak with their sometimes very strong accents I miss out on what they had to say. Not too hard here but some of his local ways of phrasing get past me.

29:00 is this from spanish sources?

HASEGAWA made a 1/72nd scale model of the F86F, which I bought when I was 15 years old - it was perhaps the best model kit I ever had the pleasure to build. It had rubber tires, movable slats and speed brake panels, a seperable fusilage with a totally detailed GE engine - including rubber hoses and individual burner cans, a tail stand A beautifully detailed model that I cherished, up until the day my younger brother knocked it of my dresser, where it smashed onto the hardwood floor below.

Sabre is a sum of „borrowed“ German engineering! 😉

Didn't the Meteor fly operationally before the Me. 262?

Making the algorithm comment

Comment for the algorithm

I think the Soviets got some early designs of the F86 and built the MiG 15 on those designs.

What are the bulges on the sabre fuselage at 40:38?

When the Whittle engine was rejected, where did the idea for Sabre’s engine come from?

No mention of the Australian and Canadian versions which were much more powerful.

The last Mustangs left service in about 1984.

..i want one.

Jet Pilot 1957 john wayne janet leigh

The plane was designed by Kurt Tank under the name Ta 183

What's an explosive 50 cal like? Sounds gnarly but how's that work?

Why does everybody keep propagating the myth that NAA designed and built the Mustang in 101 days when it took other builders' years? The truth is they bought the design from Curtiss. The plans were for the replacement for the P-40. If you research Curtiss, you will find that all the P-51 innovations like laminar flow wings attributed to NAA, show up on Curtiss prototypes. Curtiss built and flew at least twelve experimental planes, but none were put into production. The mystery is why. However, NAA did add innovative production features.

What; it isn't Friday? I am confused!!!!

Here’s a probably an opinion or maybe even a fact that will piss of my fellow Americans. The P-51 Mustang would’ve never been a legendary fighter if it wasn’t for the Brit’s. Not only did they throw in a Merlin engine. They also modified the canopy. Making it more bubble like than the cage it had with its B and C models. What they did was interesting. They removed the original hinged canopy on the B/C models and replaced it with a bulging Perspex frameless canopy that slid on rails. (Sound familiar anyone?) Yes. That’s how the D variant got its classical 360° bubble canopy and lost its “razor back” which also hindered structural rigidity. The name of this modification done to the B/C models were called Malcolm hood canopy’s. One of the complaints the pilots had went get got the D models which is hardly ever talked about is how it was structurally weaker than they ts older B and C models. Pilots say that it (the D model) was less ‘crisp’ and that the plane doesn’t talk to you anymore. I highly suggest people look at the B and C models that had the Malcolm Hood. It almost looks like a late war spitfire. Awesome stuff to have personally find out just by looking at a picture I saw in one of _Greg’s Airplane’s and automotives_ channel

The me262 was a death trap, and was only good in certain circumstances. More of them would not have changed the war, the British developed the gloster meteor around the same time and it was much better.

It seems everything we have nowadays is a copy of the good old German technology....

Definitely not a mig!!!!!! We would never copy Russia for our first jet fighter!!!

Ha! Ha! Walloped , wholesale, out of the air by the Folland Gnat in 1965.

I’m pretty sure Ben Affleck was the first pilot to engage the Japanese at Pearl Harbor…you aren’t a very good historian. 😅

Such BS. North American (a GM subsidiary) didn't just appear out of thin air. They were already making the best trainer in the world, the Texas, when the Brits asked them to make P-40s. The Texas was such a great aircraft, some South American countries were ordering them equipped with guns as fighters. Then there is the great North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber they had in full bore production. The Brits went to a company already making excellent military aircraft.

INDIA DEFEATED THE PAKISTAN SUPER SABRES WITH THE BRITISH GNATS. COST A FRACTION OF COST.

Another video completely ignoring reality when it came to jet aircraft in WW2. Jet engine development went much like the development of the Automobile in both the UK and Germany. If you look it up both nations developed their own programs at the same time independent of each other. Frank Whittle's 1930 patent was not renewed which allowed it to become public domain. It was circulated in engineering classes all over the world but nowhere more than Germany. In fact Germany's first jet powered aircraft to fly featured a jet engine very much derived from his patent. It should be noted both the German He 178 and British Gloster E28/39 flew on Centrifugal turbojets proving that jet powered flight was very real. From there things progressed as both aircraft were very under powered for any real use. While in the UK the government Nationalized Whittles Power Jet design allowing other manufacturers to study and build on it's early success in Germany technology was guarded among the two companies who attempted to build jet engines, BMW and Jumo. In the UK DeHavilland, Power Jet and Rolls Royce all went on to build production Centrifugal turbo jets some of which went on to be licence built in the USA as well and formed the bases for US centrifugal engines there. What's ignored is the British Axial flow program by Metropolitan Vickers which were test run as early as 1941 and flown by 42/43 depending on the particular engine. They even made turboprop engines and the worlds first turbofan engine during the war all with much more power than any Centrifugal flow engine or any German jet engine. German engine never obtained the reliability of British jet engines during the war or the thrust. The Metropolitan Vickers engines were used in high speed launches to rescue downed RAF pilots in the channel and north sea, they also had Genset units designed to provide electricity for small towns and military operations. Many people don't realize these more advanced British Axial Flow engines were produced in series numbers at all. When it comes to the Me 262 and the RAF Meteor the Jumo 004B would hold the German jet fighter back from operational service until December 1944. The Jumo 004B never went into series production until August 44 while the Meteor had equipped RAF 616 squadron in July 44 and was flying on regular operational intercept missions against V1 rockets. Also while the video claims the 262 was a good 150 miles an hour faster than anything the allies had in reality the 262 had a top speed of 515 mph (combat trim). After 550mph the airframe had a nasty habit of locking up it's tail controls and plowing the aircraft into the ground. Now there were four front line fighters used by the USAF and RAF at the time in mid to late 44. The P51 mustang, P47 Thunderbolt and Hawker Tempest all had a top speed of about 440 mph which was about 75 miles per hour slower than the Me 262. That said the RAF Supermarine Spitfire had a top speed of 480 mph making the 262 just 35 mph faster. Then all four piston engined fighters could out dive the 262 and out turn it very easily in the hands of a competent pilot. In fact the Spitfire in dive tests in 1943 reached mach .89 which is 682 mph. Again remember the 262 issue with speeds over 550 where the tail controls locked. The Me 262 was also handicapped with it's armament, namely the 108 30mm cannons with it's very low muzzle velocity making is no good at ranges beyond 500 feet while the Brownings used in most of the allied fighters were good up to 1500 to 2000 feet. Sadly many people don't understand the word operational and what it means in aircraft. For an aircraft to be operational it needs to equip a full squadron and have the units technicians trained on how to service the aircraft in the field. They need to be equipped with spare parts and tools to do their jobs should any aircraft return damaged or suffer mechanical failures. No 262 unit would reach that level until JG 07 in December of 44. While the 262 did fly in combat as early a July 44 it flew with a test and trials unit with examples prepared for that purpose and not standardized aircraft as the Jumo engine was still in development. It suffered from a resonance problem in it turbine fan which caused it to vibrate at high speeds and self destruct. The issue was not solved until august of 44 when the engine was finally put into series production. So the RAF Meteor is in fact history's first operational jet fighter. The Me 262 was scrapped after being tested by the victors of WW2 as it was unreliable engine wise. Post war Czechoslovakia discovered they had inherited an intact 262 factory and tried to produce them for export. In total I beleive about 16 aircraft were produce and used by their air force until 1950 with several having been lost in that time do to accidents and engine failures. No sales materialized as the technology was already obsolete by the wars end. I really wish content producers checked their claims against documentation instead of repeating debunked claims.

No way, absolutely not. No money in the world could convince me to become an aerospace engineer if my last name is "Stall".. 😂 Hell, I wouldn't work on anything with an engine/motor either

An amazing bargain. EVen in today's money that is only $2.5 million