The F-86 Sabre

Hello this is my post on the F-86 Sabre, an advanced first generation American fighter aircraft.

First built June 23, 1954

It was the first fighter aircraft fielded by the United States to have swept wings and.

-Flight characteristics:

It's Propulsion system was a General Electric J47-GE engine and its wings were swept at 35 degrees backwards.

It had a wingspan of 37 feet and 1 inch, and it could barely exceed mach 1 in a dive.

-Weapons:

It could be armed with 6x AN/M3 .50 caliber (12.7x99mm) nose mounted machine guns OR 4x AN/M3 20mm Hispano Autocannons and could be fitted with dumb bombs and/or rockets using external pylons.

Some air force squadrons had armed their Sabres with early Sidewinder air-to-air missiles (AIM-9B) and had proved exceedingly successful. 

-Early prototypes:

The YF-95 was the initial design for the F-86. It did not yet feature swept wings and suffered in performance in comparison.

-Usage in the Korean War:

It was used in the Korean War as the primary ground based fighter aircraft of the United States Air Force. It would see combat with its main adversaries, the MIG-17 and MIG-15. It had a kill ratio of around 2:1.

F-86F Sabre FU-584

F-86D Sabre FU-863