Airplane Models of the Korean War F-86 Sabre  Military Fighter Jets.

United States Air Force

History Study Notes for the F-86 Sabre Korean War Jet Fighter

The frosty morning air is shattered by a hunting party of F-86 Sabres  of the U.S. 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, led by Gabby Gabreski, as they blast off  the runway at Kimpo airfield, South Korea.

This is a highly detailed plastic kit of the F-86 variant with lengthened "6-3"  swept-wings that saw extensive use during the Korean War against the MIG-15.

North American F-86F Sabre, "Beautious Butch," flown by America's top scoring Korean War ace, Captain Joseph M. McConnell, Jr., 39th FIS, K-13, May 1953.

Korean War aces Major General Federick C. Blesse, Brigadier General Robinson Risner, Colonel Harold E. Fischer and Colonel Ralph S. Parr.

Sabre Dog series explores the F-86s of the U.S. Air National Guard as well as those in foreign service around the world.

Canadair Sabre flown by the German Luftwaffe in 1954

Canadair Sabre flown by 352-victory ace  Col. Erich Hartmann of JG 71 Richthofen, West German Air Force, during the Cold War   1961 markings including Hartmann's trademark spreading black tulip nose art.

The Battle of Carlson's Canyon,

The Life Story of the World's Highest Scoring Ace
Jager. With 352 aerial victories and ten years in a Soviet prison, Erich Hartmann survived uprisings, hunger strikes, and forced labor. His will to do his duty was remarkable - after being released, he was still mentally and physically fit enough to fly F-86 jet fighters in the post-World War II German Air Force. This photo album presents the different stages of his life - a man who wished to become a doctor, but whose fate it was to become and remain a soldier.

USAF pilot Lt. Joseph M. McConnell Jr.'s Sabre, "Beautious Butch II," as he flew it for the 39th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron / 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing.

The CL-13 (F-86) flown by "Ace of Aces" Col. Erich Hartmann leads the first all-jet fighter wing - JG 71 Richthofen, whose aircraft all sport the spreading black tulip nose art that was Hartmann's personal emblem throughout World War II - of the West German Air Force on a 1961 mission.

America's Air Force Celebrates 100 Years of Aviation. Hildebrandt. Assembled by the USAF to celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight, this unique demonstration team pairs military pilots in the latest aircraft with civilian pilots in classic Warbirds for breathtaking formation flight. Outstanding air-to-air photography captures F-16 Falcons, F-15 Eagles and A-10 Warthogs in concert with a C-130, B-25, F-86 and others.

Wearing what were perhaps the largest shark's teeth markings of the Korean War, this F-86F was flown by Joseph Fields of the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in 1953.

1950s jet fighter. A truly great platform, the F-86 evolved into an all-weather interceptor, an atomic-capable fighter-bomber, a carrier-based naval plane, a trainer, and much more. Documented here are the XP-86 through the "L" variants.

"Beautious Butch," the F-86 flown by America's top scoring Korean War ace, Captain Joseph M. McConnell.

The 116th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was the first to be based in Europe with F-86s.

The F-86D Sabre Dog, the military all-weather, radar-equipped variant of the U.S. Air Force's early Cold War frontline jet fighter.

Angel Face and the Babes flown by USAF pilot Col. Royal Baker - who achieved ace status during the Korean War - of the 336th FIS, 4th FIW

F-86E flown by U.S. Air Force ace Capt. Clifford Jolley, who served with the 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea.

Mitch's Squitch, the F-86 piloted by 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing commander Col. John Mitchell, who shot down four MiGs over Korea but who gained even more fame as the leader of the World War II mission that shot down Admiral Yamamoto.

The 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing (FIW) was sent to Korea in December 1950 expressly to face the threat posed by the all-new MiG-15 fighter that had made its combat debut the previous month. It remained the sole Sabre wing in-theater for a full year, its pilots tangling with Russian-flown jets over the Yalu River in "MiG Alley," on a near-daily basis. Through sheer skill and superior machinery, the 4th FIW prevailed, and the skies over North Korea remained firmly in U.N. control

On July 19th, 1953, after his flight of four F-86s was set upon by 16 MiGs, John Glenn pursued and "flamed" a MiG to score the second of his three Korean War kills.

John Glenn's Sabre, "MiG Mad Marine.

This beautifully restored F-86 Sabre, one of the most pristine Korean-era warbirds flying, is painted with the markings of USMC (then) Maj. John Glenn, Jr. of the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing and flown by pilot Mike Keenum.

Col. Walker M. "Bud" Mahurin, who added 3½ kills to his World War II tally of 21 while flying in the Korean War.      Mahurin's Honest John markings from the spring of 1952, when he was Commander of the 4th Fighter Wing;

Featuring the special 1956 "gunnery meet" markings of a Sabre from the 366th Fighter-Bomber Wing based at Alexandria AFB, Louisiana,

Painted in the colorful 1956 livery of the Skyblazers, a USAF demonstration team that performed in Europe from the late 1940s through the late 1950s

The Huff, the F-86 flown by 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing pilot Lt. James Thompson, who chose the colorful paint scheme after downing a MiG-15 with a dragon painted on its side

Skyblazers poster features the F-86 that the USAF demonstration team flew in Europe in 1955-56.

Col. Ralph Parr, who earned more than 60 decorations flying over 1,100 hours of combat in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, this limited edition,

Unofficially, the Sabre was the first supersonic aircraft achieving a speed just in excess of Mach 1 in a dive two weeks before Chuck Yeager "broke the sound barrier" in the Bell X-1. The two aircraft in many ways were intertwined, because it was the research performed by the Bell X-1 that led to the creation of the "all flying tail," which greatly eased an aircraft's penetration of the sonic barrier; the Sabre was the first operational aircraft to which this was fitted. As a result, the Sabre was faster, and more importantly more controllable at those high speeds, than its Russian opponent, the MiG-15.

The Sabre was first ordered by the Air Force on August 30, 1944. At that time the design had a strong similarity to what would emerge from Republic's design department as the F-84 Thunderjet. Fortunately, in August 1945 Lee Atwood and Ray Rice were willing to listen to Schmued's descriptions of the German papers before they were officially translated. Armed with this information, Atwood went to the Air Force and got a year's delay on the delivery date of the XP-86, time enough to add in the swept wings. It was likely the most useful and important delay in aviation history. Had this not happened - had the F-86 come out of the shop looking like a slimmed down version of its naval counterpart, the FJ-1 Fury - the results of the aerial battles over Korea a few years later would have been very different indeed.

The F-86A Sabre had only been operational for a year when it went to war. The appearance of the MiG-15 over the Yalu River in North Korea in early November 1950 sent shivers through the Air Force - the unknown Russian jet was superior to everything in the inventory other than the possible likelihood of the Sabre. Within a month, the 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing - the descendant of the Eagle Squadrons and the 4th Fighter Group of World War II fame - was flying combat missions out of Suwon, Korea. For the next year, a force of Sabres that was never greater than 35-40 operational aircraft held off a Communist air command of several hundred jet fighters. The F-86A was followed a year later by the F-86E with the "all flying tail," and a bit less than a year after that by the F-86F which had an updated engine and an extended wing leading edge without slats, for upgraded high speed performance.

It is alleged that the Sabre achieved a kill ratio of 12.5:1 against the MiG-15 Faggot . This has since been lowered to around 4.5:1 in the light of access to Soviet records after the end of the Cold War. In fact, the MiG-15 was generally superior to the F-86 above about 38,000 feet and could top out at 50,000 feet, which was superior to the Sabre's operational ceiling; the MiG-15 was always at least the Sabre's equal in climb and turn radius. What won the war for the Sabres was the edge provided by the greater skill and experience of its pilots, many of who were aces of the WW2, and all of whom were better-trained than their Communist opponents.

The first official USAF Sabre "ace" was Captain (later MAJ) James J. Jabara, who achieved his 5th and 6th kills May 20, 1951. In the spring of 1953, Jabara became the only ace to fly a second tour, returning to the 334th FIS of the 4th FIW in late April 1953. The Sabres were "turned loose" on the enemy in May, 1953, at which time an "ace race" began between Jabara, his fellow 334th pilot CAPT Manuel "Pete" Fernandez, and CAPT Joseph McConnell from the 39th FIS, 51st FIW. The race began in May with Fernandez in the lead, followed by Jabara and McConnell who jockeyed back and forth. In the end, it was McConnell by a nose to become the UN Ace of Aces with 16 kills, followed by Jabara with 15 and Fernandez with 14.5.

Several exchange pilots from the USN, USMC, RAF and RCAF flew with the 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, the second unit to be equipped with the Sabre in Korea (this increase in fighter power was only achieved by a threat from the Commander of the 4th FIW, Colonel Harrison Thyng, to resign his commission and go home to make public the real facts of the air war in the summer of 1952, when there were fewer than 30 operational Sabres in the Korean theatre). It has been alleged that the USAF maneuvered the assignments to keep these exchange pilots from achieving 5 kills, since the Air Force wanted to keep "acedom" in its own ranks. Only one of these pilots, MAJ John F. Bolt, USMC, broke the rule to achieve 6 kills. The second leading Marine pilot was MAJ John Glenn, a pilot who would become well-known in the immediate post-Korean period for a series of speed records, and would become even better known at the end of the decade as the first American to orbit the earth as an astronaut in the Mercury program. Glenn had three kills, which justified his airplane's big gaudy name, "MiG-Mad Marine."