North American F-86E-10 Sabre

From The Air Combat Wiki

Contents 1 Quick Link 2 Fighter Ace Screenshots 3 Fighter Ace Ratings 4 Fighter Ace Performance 5 Historical Statistics 6 Strengths 7 Weaknesses 8 History 9 Sources 10 See Also 11 Quick Link

Quick Link

• Fighter Ace Flight Museum: WWII US / GB / SU / GE / JP / Jets and Post WWII // Planes Inventory (text list)
• Fighter Ace Plane Physics: Speeds / Accelerations / Climb Speeds / Star Ratings
• Fighter Ace Weapons: Guns / Rockets / Bombs / Torpedoes

Fighter Ace Screenshots

Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ
Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ

Fighter Ace Ratings

Durability: 4

Speed: 10

Maneuverability: 5

Firepower: 8

Climb Rate: 9

Ground Attack: 3

Fighter Ace Performance

Top Speeds						Climb Rates
	Sea Level	4921' 1500m	9843' 3000m	19685' 6000m	Best Speed	Best IAS	to 1000m	to 3000m	to 6000m
mph	660	656	652	631	660@ sea level	268 mph	0:43	1:48	3:49
kph	1062	1056	1049	1016	1062@ sea level	432 kph

Historical Statistics

Service Date: December 1950

Primary Guns: 2x Browning M3 .50 cal machine guns with 300 rpg in nose

Secondary Guns: 4x Browning M3 .50 cal machine guns with 300 rpg in nose

Ordnance: 2x 100 lb (45 kg) bombs or 2x 250 lb (113 kg) bombs or 2x 500 lb (227 kg) bombs or 2x 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or 8x 5" HVAR rockets or 2x 1,584 lb (718 kg) drop tanks

Engine(s): 1x General Electric J-47-GE-13 turbojet engine producing 5,200 lb (2,359 kg) thrust at 7,950 rpm

Int Fuel Capacity: 2,871 lb (1,302 kg)

Ext Fuel Capacity: 1,585 lb (718 kg)

Maximum Speeds: 679 mph (1,093 kph) at sea level, 675 mph (1,086 kph) at 2,500 ft (762 m), 601 mph (967 kph) at 35,000 ft (10,668 m)

Take-off Stall Speed: 123 mph (198 kph)

Initial Climb Rate: 7,250 fpm at sea level

Ceiling: 47,200 ft (14,387 m)

Empty Weight: 10,845 lb (4,919 kg)

Max Landing Weight: 12,557 lb (5,696 kg)

Combat Weight: 14,255 lb (6,452 kg)

Max Loaded Weight: 17,806 lb (8,077 kg)

Wing Area: 287.9 sq ft (26.7 sq m)

Wing Loading: 49.5 lb/sq ft (241.2 kg/sq m)

Strengths

Maneuverability: The addition of the leading edge slats gives the Sabre the edge over the MiG at low speed handling, while the swept wings and flying-tail provide good high-speed handling.

Low-altitude Speed: The Sabre has the edge over the MiG-15 in top speed at sea-level.

Climb Rate: Although not as quick as the MiG-15, the Sabre is still one of the best climbing aircraft in the game.

Fire Rate: The six M3 Brownings can spit out a total of 120 .50 cal rounds per second.

Gun Platform: The combination of the excellent .50 cal round, the nose mounting of the guns, the lack of engine vibration, and an excellent radar-ranging gunsight made the Sabre one of the best gun-fighters in air combat history.

Weaknesses

High-altitude Speed: Although better than all other aircraft in the game, the Sabre lags behind it's MiG foe by a significant margin at high-altitudes.

History

The original XP-86 design utilized a straight wing and a 3,820 lbt General Electric J35 (TG-180) engine, however wind tunnel testing showed a maximum speed of 575 mph, far below the specifications required by the Army Air Force. North American Aircraft's Head of Design Aerodynamics, Larry Green, was engaged at that time translating captured German documents. Among the documents he translated was wind tunnel data that showed the use of swept wings delayed compressibility drag in the transonic range. Harrison Storms, one of the NAA Engineers on the XP-86 project, studied Green's translations and figured that a swept wing would improve the XP-86's top speed by about 75 mph.

Wind tunnel tests on the swept wing showed that that the design reduced drag and increased lift at high-speeds, but it came at the expense of low-speed handling. Further examination of the translated German research documents showed that the use of leading edge slats (aka LES or slats), which were used on the Bf-109, would improve handling when extended at low-speeds.

Storm designed a new wing for the XP-86, which used a 35 degree sweep for speed and full-span slats for handling. NAA built a mockup of the wing and fitted it to the XP-86 mockup. Tests in a low-speed wind tunnel revealed that it had satisfactory low-speed stall characteristics and that it would have an estimated top speed of 650 mph.

The USAAF authorized the design on 20 November 1945, but the design research delayed the project and the first prototype (45-59597) rolled out of NAA's Ingelwood plant on 8 August 1947. The XF-86 was described as a "pilot's aircraft", a natural flying plane that if it ever got out of control, all a pilot had to do was release the stick and, if he had enough altitude, it would stabilize itself. Additionally, the pilot's view from the cockpit was nearly perfect.

One of the prototypes was re-engined with the new General Electric J47-GE-3 engine, which produced 5,200 lbt at 7950 rpm, a 36% increase in available thrust. After initial flight tests, this prototype was flown through the sound barrier on 25 April 1948. Like the Mustang before it, the addition of a new engine had turned an average fighter into a one of the best fighters in the world and the USAF decided to issue a contract for production 221 F-86A Sabres.

The first production F-86A-1 flew on 20 May 1948 and was armed with six Browning M3 .50 cal machine guns in the nose, three on each side of the fuselage, with 300 rounds of ammunition each, sufficient for 15 seconds of fire. Only 33 F-86A-1s were built, almost all being used for testing and experimental purposes. One of these was flown by Major Robert L Johnson on 15 September 1948 when he set a new World's Speed Record of 670.98 mph.

The F-86A-5 was the first version considered by the USAF to be combat capable fighter and was the first to be assigned to combat units. It was the first variant to be equipped with two hard points for carrying either 2x 500 lb or 1000 lb bombs or 2x 120-gal Combat fuel tanks or 206.5-gal Ferry tanks. The A-5 model also had four zero-length rocket launcher stubs under each wing to allow up to eight 5" HVAR rockets to be carried. Two HVAR rockets could be carried when the 120-gal combat tank was used, but otherwise rockets were used instead of underwing stores.

When war broke out in Korea the MiG-15 surprised Western experts in outclassing everything in the Far East Air Force (FEAF) inventory. It was a full 75 mph faster than the F-80C Shooting Star then serving in the front-line fighter role, so Air Force commanders decided to commit the Sabre into combat. The 4th FG and their F-86A-5s were packed aboard Navy ships and sent directly to Korea. On December 17th they saw their first action when Baker flight, led by LtCol Bruce Hinton, jumped a flight of MiGs near Sinuiju. In the skirmish that followed Hinton bagged one of the MiGs for the first of 792 Sabre victories over MiG-15s, at a cost of only 78 F-86s.

The addition of the "flying tail" from the F-86D Sabre Dog to the F-86A-5 production line caused the Air Force to designate the result a new model and the F-86E-1 was born. The first F-86E was flown on 23 September 1950.

With increasing demand for Sabres in the skies over Korea, the USAF purchased sixty Canadair Sabre Mk. 4s, which were identical to the F-86E-1, except for the use of RCAF radios. These were designated F-86E-6 by the USAF and after the war, many of them were later transferred to the Michigan ANG. The F-86E-10 introduced an optically-flat, armored windscreen to replace the previous v-shaped windscreen and improved air conditioning.

Although NAA only made 456 E models, at a flyaway cost of $219,457 each, it was the most numerous type to see combat in Korea and it scored the most victories, despite being slightly inferior to the MiG-15 in performance.

Sources

Angelucci, Enzo; The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft 1914 to the Present; Crescent Books, New York; 1980.

Batchelor, John, and Cooper, Bryan; Fighter: A History of Fighter Aircraft; Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 1973.

Davis, Larry; F-86 Sabre In Action; Squadron/Signal Publications; Carrollton, TX; 1992.

Davis, Larry; Walk Around F-86 Sabre; Squadron/Signal Publications; Carrollton, TX; 2000.

Franks, Norman; Aircraft Versus Aircraft; Barnes & Noble Books, 1998.

Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon; The Complete Book Of Fighters; Smithmark Publishing, New York; 1994.

Taylor, Michael J.H.; Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation; Crescent Books, New York; 1989.

Williams, Anthony G.; Rapid Fire; Airlife Publishing Ltd; Shrewsbury, England; 2000.

F-86 Sabre; History Channel Productions; 2003.

See Also

North American F-86 Sabre

North American Aviation, Inc.

Aircraft Manufacturers During World War II

Quick Link

• Fighter Ace Flight Museum: WWII US / GB / SU / GE / JP / Jets and Post WWII // Planes Inventory (text list)
• Fighter Ace Plane Physics: Speeds / Accelerations / Climb Speeds / Star Ratings
• Fighter Ace Weapons: Guns / Rockets / Bombs / Torpedoes