Naval & Reconnisance Sabres

Reconnissance Sabres

Since the USAF did not have a standard reconnaissance aircraft that could outrun the MiG-15, a small number of F-86As were field-modified to "RF-86A" photo-reconnaissance aircraft. This whole scheme was the brainchild of three officers of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW) at Kimpo AFB in Korea: Major Bruce Fish, Major Ruffin Gray, and Captain Joe Daley. They were told that it would be impossible to convert the Sabre to the reconnaissance role, but they were familiar enough to recognize that this was more often than not the military way of saying "don't bug me about it", and persisted.

They made such a nuisance of themselves around the fighter wings that they were finally given a derelict F-86A, and set about figuring out how to turn it into a reconnaissance platform. They found that there really wasn't much room for a camera, but by removing two of the 12.7 Brownings and their ammo boxes from the right side of the fuselage, they were able to squeeze in a K-25 bomb-scoring camera. The camera was mounted horizontally but "shot" out the bottom using mirrors.

Colonel Edwin "Chick" Chickering of the 67th TRW liked the idea and managed to scrounge up two war-weary F-86As, which were then sent to Japan to be refitted with the K-25 camera. These two aircraft were known as "Honeybuckets", with the first returning to Korea in October 1951. They flew reconnaissance missions as the lead in a four-ship flight of Sabre fighters. The Honeybuckets retained four of their guns, but they were usually not loaded with ammunition since firing the guns might knock the camera system out of alignment.

The Honeybuckets having proven the value of a reconnaissance F-86, the Air Force bureaucracy suddenly became more enthusiastic about the idea, and five more F-86As were converted to an improved reconnaissance standard under Project "Ashtray". The two Honeybuckets were also converted to the Ashtray standard. The Ashtray aircraft became "RF-86As".

All seven aircraft were fitted with two K-9 cameras. These were much larger than the K-25 camera, and so "blisters" or "cheeks" were fitted to the fuselage under the cockpit to accommodate them, with the cameras shooting through a mirror path. However, there were wide variations in fit. Some Ashtrays had all their guns removed, while some retained the two top guns, with ballast added to keep the aircraft's balance. Some had a small K-14 camera installed in the nose in place of the ranging radar. Some had open apertures for the cameras, while others had sliding doors, which resembled those used in the floor ashtrays of contemporary automobiles, hence the name.

Although the Ashtray aircraft were a great improvement on the Honeybucket aircraft, Ashtray was still a field improvisation. Images were often fuzzy, partly because the mirror mounting scheme wasn't sufficiently rigid, and partly because the K-9 and later K-25 cameras weren't designed to be used by such a fast aircraft. The camera mounts were redesigned and the fast K-45 camera was eventually installed, and the RF-86As proved much more satisfactory. One RF-86A was lost in action from anti-aircraft fire in 1952, the pilot being killed.

As with the F-86A, a number of F-86Fs were converted to a reconnaissance configuration, the "RF-86F". Three F-86F-30s were given a camera fit very similar to the Ashtray Sabres and put into action. They were known as "Haymakers".

Following this, North American built eight production RF-86Fs, featuring a much improved camera fit, including twin K-22 and a single K-14 "dicing" camera. These aircraft were also sometimes referred to as "Haymakers". The K-22s were actually mounted vertically, with new bulged fuselage panels to permit proper fit; the K-14 was fitted between them. These aircraft had no guns, but had fake gun muzzles painted on the nose as a bluff.

The production RF-86Fs never saw combat, but from 1954 to 1957 they performed overflights of eastern Siberia and China that remained secret for decades. The missions were approved at the presidential level. If shot down, the pilots were to tell their captors that they had got lost while performing studies of high winds aloft. Fortunately, it appears that all of them came back safely. The USAF did not obtain any more RF-86Fs, preferring the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash instead, but a number of RF-86Fs -- conversions of fighter variants -- were operated by several foreign air forces.

The F-86H Sabre

The last fighter, as opposed to interceptor, variant of the Sabre, was the "F-86H". The "F-86G" designation was temporarily applied to an F-86D variant that never happened.

The F-86H had the classic lines of the Sabre fighter, but with a muscular appearance due to the fit of a General Electric J73-GE-3 turbojet engine with 41.2 kN (4,195 kgp / 9,250 lbf) dry thrust. The bigger engine required expansion of the intake and fuselage, with a 15 centimeter (6 inch) splice end to end to increase depth. The exhaust was extended 60 centimeters (two feet), and the tailfin was raised by 7.6 centimeters (3 inches). Other changes included fit of the "clamshell" canopy designed for the F-86D, making the F-86H the only Sabre fighter variant not to have a sliding canopy; the new ejection seat designed for the F-86D; and a unitary flat "slab" tailplane.

Two F-86H prototypes were built at Inglewood, with the first rolled out in April 1953 and making its first flight in May. The new engine improved performance in all respects, and provided a particularly impressive rate of climb.

The F-86H was intended as a fighter-bomber instead of an air-superiority fighter, and was capable of delivering nuclear weapons, along with conventional bombs, napalm, or rockets. The F-86H had four stores pylons and a LABS systems for nuclear weapons delivery.

Except for the two prototypes, all F-86Hs were built at the NAA Columbus plant, with three subvariants:

• F-86H-1 (113 built): Armed with six 12.7 millimeter Browning machine guns. The first fourteen were fitted with the traditional Sabre slatted wing, but the rest were built with the "solid 6-3" wing. Problems with engine production delayed deliveries to operational units until the fall of 1954.
• F-86H-5 (60 built): Fitted with an improved J73-GE-3A engine, and four M-39 20 millimeter cannon with a total of 600 rounds, replacing the six 12.7 millimeter guns. This was basically the cannon fit that was evaluated in the Gunval Sabres.
• F-86H-10 (300 built): Very similar to the F-86H-5, but with minor wiring changes and a still further improved J73-GE-3E engine. The last ten were built with the "F-40" long slatted wing. They were the last Sabres built, with production ending on 16 March 1956.

475 F-86Hs were manufactured in all, including the two prototypes. However, the advance of aircraft design at the time was so rapid that even though the F-86H was superior in almost all respects to its F-86A ancestor, it was still obsolescent, and the "Hog Sabre" or "Sabre Hog" was phased out of first-line service to the Air National Guard by mid-1958. The F-86H would linger in ANG service until the early 1970s. After they had been retired, the US Navy purchased some for "aggressor training" to simulate MiG-17s, though they did not operate for long in this role.

F-86K & F-86L Sabre Interceptors

The "F-86K" was a simplified version of the F-86D, developed in response to a 1953 USAF request for an export interceptor intended for Western allies under the US Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP).

NAA eliminated the rocket tray in favor of four M24-A-1 20 millimeter cannon, and replaced the complicated E-4 fire-control system with the simpler new MG-4 fire-control system. The E-4 was felt to be unsuitable for export because it was complicated, not very reliable, and top secret. The F-86K sacrificed the collision-course intercept capabilities provided by the E-4 and reverted to the less challenging "tail-chase" intercept. The MG-4 fire-control system used the existing AN/APG-7 radar of the F-86D and could compute efficient tail-chase intercept trajectories.

Installation of the four cannon required a 20 centimeter (8 inch) fuselage stretch forward of the wings. Large vent holes were cut into the cannon bay doors to prevent the gas buildup that had caused so much trouble with the Gunval Sabres. Other than these changes, the F-86K was almost identical to the F-86D-45.

Two F-86D-40s were pulled from production and modified to become "YF-86K" prototypes. First flight was on 15 July 1954, with NAA test pilot Ray Morris at the controls. Original F-86K production was by Fiat of Italy for the Italian Air Force, with 50 kits sent from Inglewood to the Fiat factory in Turin for assembly. The first Italian-assembled F-86Ks went into service in mid-1956, and the type would remain in service with the Italians until 1964. Fiat eventually assembled 221 F-86Ks, with 60 going to France and 88 going to West Germany. In the meantime, NAA had received other contracts for F-86K and put the type into production at Inglewood, building a total of 120, with deliveries split evenly between Norway and the Netherlands.

Late Fiat production of the F-86K featured the "F-40" long slatted wing, and some Dutch F-86Ks were refitted with this wing. Many F-86Ks were also fitted with two additional stores pylons just outside of the landing gear for Sidewinder missiles. These aircraft were phased out of service in the mid-1960s, generally being sold to other air arms, where they lingered into the 1970s.

The "F-86L" was developed under "Project Follow-On". It was essentially an F-86D incorporating a data-link capability for the "Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE)" air-intercept control system.

The CGI system used with the F-86D had not proven entirely satisfactory. Communications between the ground controller and the pilot tended to be slow or confusing, and so something a little smarter was needed. SAGE, introduced in 1953, had been developed by the Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It used a big ground-based computer to assess target information obtained by ground radar, and relayed target data to the interceptor through an AN/ARR-39 datalink, automatically guiding the interceptor to the target while the targeting information was displayed to the pilot. It was a marvel of the world at the time, though it is an indication of the increase in computing power since the 1950s that even though the SAGE computers filled up rooms, any cheap modern desktop PC would dwarf the memory, mass storage, and processing power of all the SAGE computers added together!

The F-86L was intended as stopgap for SAGE operation until better the better Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and its successor, the F-106 Delta Dart, came on line. All F-86Ls were rebuilds of low-flight-time F-86Ds, with the first such rebuild flying on 27 December 1955.

All the rebuilds were brought up to the equivalent of an F-86D-45, with other improvements including updated avionics and the "F-40" long slatted wing. Rebuilt F-86D-50, F-86D-55, and F-86D-60 were simply redesignated "F-86L-50", "F-86L-55", and "F-86L-60" respectively. Oddly, however, earlier F-86D subvariants were given block numbers incremented by 1 after update. For example, an F-86D-40 became an "F-86D-41".

981 F-86Ds were converted to F-86Ls in all. They began to go into USAF Air Defense Command service in late 1957, but were phased out into Air National Guard service by 1960, to be finally obsoleted in 1965.

Naval Sabres

Ironically, the Sabre, having been derived from a naval fighter, the FJ-1 Fury, became the basis for another series of naval fighters, the "FJ-2", "FJ-3", and "FJ-4 Fury". Various forms of the Sabre would also be used by the air forces of many different nations, and unique variants would be manufactured in a few of these countries. The Japanese would even design a jet trainer modeled on the Sabre, the Fuji "T-1".

Naval Sabres: The FJ-2 Fury

The US Navy had been slow to adopt swept-wing aircraft, since such machines seemed too "hot" to land on a carrier, but the war in Korea put Navy fighters up against the noticeably faster MiG-15, and the brass finally had to bite the bullet and go to swept wings. One of the most obvious solutions over the short term was just to modify the Air Force's excellent Sabre for carrier-deck operation.

In early 1951, at the urging of the Navy, North American began investigation of a navalized Sabre, leading to award of a contract in March 1951 for three prototypes of a navalized F-86E.

Two prototypes were F-86Es modified with yoke-style arresting hooks, catapult attachment points, and a longer nosewheel leg to raise the angle of attack for carrier takeoffs and landings. No armament was fitted. These two aircraft were given the company designation "NA-179" and the Navy designation "XFJ-2 Fury". The third prototype, which was designated "NA-181" or "XFJ-2B"

was basically a stock F-86E with four 20 millimeter cannon with 150 rounds per gun, in contrast to the F-86E's six 12.7 millimeter Browning guns. The XFJ-2B appears to have been strictly an armament test platform, with no navalization modifications. All three had the "all-moving tail" and were fitted with the J47-GE-13 engine. The XFJ-2B was the first to fly, on 27 December 1951, with famed test pilot Bob Hoover at the controls.

Carrier trials in late 1952 proved successful, if only barely so, and an order for 300 "FJ-2s" was placed, though only 200 of them were completed since the end of the Korean War reduced the need for new combat aircraft.

Production FJ-2s had slatted wings that folded straight up; a flat tailplane instead of the dihedral tailplane as used on the F-86E; a J47-GE-2 engine with 26.5 kN (2,700 kgp / 5,950 lbf) thrust; and four 20 millimeter cannon with 600 rounds total. The FJ-2 weighed about 450 kilograms (1,000 pounds) more than the F-86F. It appears that the Navy gave the new aircraft the designation of "FJ-2 Fury" to imply that it was a logical follow-on to the FJ-1 Fury, instead of an entirely new naval aircraft, in order to get the program through Congress.

Deliveries were slow, since North American was preoccupied with F-86F production for the USAF, and only 25 FJ-2s were delivered by the end of 1953. Delivery of the last of the 200 was in September 1954.

First production FJ-2s were painted in Navy blue for Navy fighter squadrons. However, the Navy preferred the Grumman F9F-6 Cougar and the FJ-2s ended up equipping Marine squadrons, with the aircraft usually delivered in natural-metal finish. They were generally operated from land bases, since their carrier-deck handling was never regarded as entirely satisfactory.

Naval Sabres: FJ-3 Fury

North American soon became aware that the FJ-2 left something to be desired. In March 1952, NAA began work on an uprated version of the Fury with a Wright J65-W-2 Sapphire engine, with the company designation of "NA-194" and Navy designation of "FJ-3". A contract for 389 FJ-3s was awarded to NAA in April 1952.

The Wright Sapphire was a license-built copy of the British Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire engine, which provided 34.2 kN (3,500 kgp / 7,720 lbf) thrust. The new engine was tested in a modified FJ-2, which served as the prototype for the new Fury variant, first flying on 3 July 1953.

The first production FJ-3 was completed in December 1953. The type was more enthusiastically accepted by the Navy. Production FJ-3s used a J65-W-4 engine, with the same thrust levels. The intake was noticeably enlarged to provide more airflow for the new engine. Ammunition supply for the four 20 millimeter cannon was increased to a total of 648 rounds, and heavier cockpit armor was fitted.

Service deliveries of the FJ-3 began in 1954. An additional contract was placed that year, bringing the total of FJH-3s delivered to 538 before the end of 1956. The type equipped 12 Navy squadrons.

Modifications to the FJ-3 were introduced in 1955:

• The Navy changed their normal blue color scheme to light gray upper surfaces and white lower surfaces.
• Underwing store pylons were increased from 2 to 4 for additional munitions or drop tanks.
• Wing slats were eliminated and replaced by extended leading edges that added another 470 liters (124 US gallons) fuel capacity. The modified wing featured a distinctive new short-chord "fence" fit around the leading edge at midsection. The wing configuration had been designed with various test modifications of FJ-2s.

From the 345th FJ-3 on, Furies were equipped to carry the new Sidewinder AAM. Sidewinder-equipped Furies were designated "FJ-3M", and could carry a missiles on each inboard stores pylon, for a total of two missiles. An inflight refueling probe was retrofitted to the left wing of many FJ-3s. A few FJ-3s were also modified to serve as control and chase aircraft for the Regulus long-range cruise missile, or target drones. The Furies modified as Regulus controllers were designated "FJ-3D", while the drone controllers were designated "FJ-3D2".

Naval Sabres: The FJ-4 Fury

Work on the final naval Sabre, the "NA-209" or "FJ-4", began in December 1953, leading to award of contracts for two "NA-208" prototypes, followed by production contracts for 177 aircraft. First flight was on 28 October 1954.

The FJ-4 was intended as an extended-range attack aircraft and was one of the most highly modified of the Sabre series. The airframe was completely redesigned to accommodate 50% more fuel, and the wing and tail were redesigned as well. Only the wingtips folded on the new wing. The landing gear was also redesigned and provided a wider track. Surprisingly, although the FJ-4 used basically the same powerplant as the FJ-3, a J65-W-16A engine with 34.2 kN (3,500 kgp / 7,720 lbf) thrust, the bigger FJ-4's performance matched or bettered that of its predecessor, a tribute to cleaner aerodynamics.

The FJ-4 looked something like a Sabre on steroids, with a fatter fuselage, a redesigned canopy trailing into a dorsal spine running back to the tail, a wing wider at the root and narrower at the tip, and a taller tail. To reduce weight, some cockpit armor was removed, and the ammunition supply for the four 20 millimeter cannon was reduced to a total of 548 rounds. Four stores pylons were standard, and Sidewinders could be carried on all four pylons for the air-defense mission. The FJ-4 was also fitted with a midair refueling probe on the left wing.

The "FJ-4B" sub-variant first flew in late 1956, and was further optimized for the low-level strike role. It had six stores pylons instead of four, two additional speed brakes, structural reinforcement to handle a greater weapons load, and a LABS installation for nuclear weapon delivery.

The Navy introduced a "buddy tanker" refueling system 1957, allowing almost any aircraft capable of carrying external stores to carry a tank with a drogue-refueling line. This scheme greatly increased the effective range of carrier-based aircraft.

Another late-1950s enhancement was the Martin "Bullpup" air-to-ground missile. The Bullpup was a radio-guided missile, which a pilot guided to a target up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) away by using a joystick to keep a flare on the end of the missile centered in his gunsight. An FJ-4B could carry five of these weapons, along with a guidance pack. First test firings of the Bullpup from FJ-4s were in 1957, with operational deployment in 1959. A number of FJ-4s were also modified to operate as control and chase aircraft for the Regulus, and these aircraft were designated "FJ-4Ds".

An additional order for FJ-4s placed in 1956 gave a final total of 222 FJ-4s, with the last delivered in 1958, completing a total production of 1,112 Furies of all types.

When the Navy adopted the tri-service aircraft designation scheme in September 1962, Furies still in service were redesignated as follows:

By this time they were approaching the end of their days. Apparently a few FJ-4Bs performed air strikes into Laos in 1962, with one aircraft damaged so badly by anti-aircraft fire that it had to be written off after landing. This seems to have been the only combat service of any of the Furies. They were entirely in Reserve service by the end of 1962, and were completely out of service by the mid-1960s.

Author: Greg Goebel