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Interesting Aircraft
F-86 Sabre: Mig Killer Extraordinaire
With a special place in aviation history
As a boy, I had many model aircraft hanging from my bedroom ceiling. I can remember the Avro Lancaster bomber, the Supermarine Spitfire, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (aka the Widowmaker) and even a Regulus missile. But I never had an F-86 Sabre over may head at night. I don’t know why. At that time the Koren War has been over for about ten years and I was certainly aware of the plane. It was probably due to the fact that my Dad didn’t talk about them and that the local hobby shop did not stock the model kits.
It was an epochal aircraft, although not the first production jet fighter. The Messerschmitt Me 262 “Schwalbe” was the first operational jet fighter and saw action in World War II.
Design concept
The design concept behind the F-86 Sabre was driven by the need for a high-performance, high altitude jet fighter capable of countering emerging threats in the post-World War II era.
High-Speed Flight
A primary objective was to achieve high speeds in the transonic range, more than 600 mph. This led to the adoption of swept wings, a crucial innovation based on German aerodynamic research.
