The story of the North American F86 Sabre, starting with the early turbojetpowered aircraft, like the Messerschmitt Me 262.
The North American F86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first sweptwing fighter that could counter the sweptwing Soviet MiG15 in highspeed dogfights in the skies of the Korean War (1950–1953), fighting some of the earliest jettojet battles in history. Considered one of the best and most important fighter aircraft in that war, the F86 is also rated highly in comparison with fighters of other eras. Although it was developed in the late 1940s and was outdated by the end of the 1950s, the Sabre proved versatile and adaptable and continued as a frontline fighter in numerous air forces.

Its success led to an extended production run of more than 7,800 aircraft between 1949 and 1956 in the United States, Japan, and Italy. In addition, 738 carriermodified versions were purchased by the US Navy as FJ2s and 3s. Variants were built in Canada and Australia. The Canadair Sabre added another 1,815 aircraft, and the significantly redesigned CAC Sabre (sometimes known as the Avon Sabre or CAC CA27) had a production run of 112. The Sabre is by far the mostproduced Western jet fighter, with a total production of all variants at 9,860 units.

North American Aviation had produced the propellerpowered P51 Mustang in World War II, which saw combat against some of the first operational jet fighters. By late 1944, North American proposed its first jet fighter to the U.S. Navy, which became the FJ1 Fury. It was an unexceptional transitional jet fighter that had a straight wing derived from the P51. Initial proposals to meet a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) requirement for a mediumrange, singleseat, highaltitude, jetpowered day escort fighter/fighter bomber were drafted in mid1944. In early 1945, North American Aviation submitted four designs. The USAAF selected one design over the others and granted North American a contract to build three examples of the XP86 ("experimental pursuit"). Deleting specific requirements from the FJ1 Fury, coupled with other modifications, allowed the XP86 to be lighter and considerably faster than the Fury, with an estimated top speed of 582 mph (937 km/h), versus the Fury's 547 mph (880 km/h). Despite the gain in speed, early studies revealed the XP86 would have the same performance as its rivals, the XP80 and XP84. Because these rival designs were more advanced in their development stages, it was feared that the XP86 would be cancelled.

F86 General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 37 ft 1 in (11.30 m)
Wingspan: 39 ft 1 in (11.91 m)
Height: 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m)
Wing area: 313.4 sq ft (29.12 m2)
Airfoil: root: NACA 000964 mod.; tip: NACA 0008.164 mod.
Empty weight: 11,125 lb (5,046 kg)
Gross weight: 15,198 lb (6,894 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 18,152 lb (8,234 kg)
Fuel capacity: JP4 fuel: 437 US gallons (364 imp gal; 1,650 L) internals + 2 x 200 US gallons (170 imp gal; 760 L) drop tanks
Powerplant: 1 × General Electric J47GE27 turbojet engine, 5,910 lbf (26.3 kN) thrust
Performance

Maximum speed: 687 mph (1,106 km/h, 597 kn) at sea level at 14,212 lb (6,446 kg) combat weight
678 mph (589 kn; 1,091 km/h)
599 mph (521 kn; 964 km/h) at 35,000 ft (10,668 m) at 15,352 lb (6,964 kg)
597 mph (519 kn; 961 km/h) at 21,148 ft (6,446 m)
599 mph (521 kn; 964 km/h) at 22,835 ft (6,960 m)
Stall speed: 124 mph (200 km/h, 108 kn)
Range: 1,525 mi (2,454 km, 1,325 nmi)
Combat range: 414 mi (666 km, 360 nmi) with two 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs and 2x 200 US gallons (170 imp gal; 760 L) drop tanks
Service ceiling: 49,600 ft (15,100 m) at combat weight
Rate of climb: 9,000 ft/min (46 m/s) at sea level
Time to altitude: 30,000 ft (9,144 m) in 5 minutes 12 seconds
Lifttodrag: 15
Thrust/weight: 0.39 (combat weight) 0.29 (maximum takeoff weight)
Armament
Guns: 6 x 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M3 Browning machine guns (1,800 rounds in total)
Rockets: variety of rocket launchers; e.g.: 2 Matra rocket pods with 18 SNEB 68 mm rockets per pod
Bombs: 5,300 lb (2,400 kg) of payload on four external hardpoints, bombs were usually mounted on outer two pylons as the inner pairs were plumbed for two 200 US gallons (760 L) drop tanks which gave the Sabre a more useful range. A wide variety of bombs could be carried (max standard loadout being two 1,000 pounds (450 kg) bombs plus two drop tanks), napalm canisters and could have included a tactical nuclear weapon.

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