Important aircraft in aviation history

Aircraft that I have chosen is North American F-86 Sabre. This aircraft was a transonic fighter aircraft and was developed by North American Aviation. This aircraft is very important in aviation history because it was the United States' first transonic swept wing fighter aircraft that could compete with the similar Soviet Union's MiG-15 in high speed fights during the Korean War. It is considered one of the best aircrafts used in the Korean War and is rated highest among the important fighter aircrafts.

The North American Aviation that has previously manufactured P-51 Mustang started to develop another fighter aircraft in 1940's. Designed by Edgar Schmeud, this aircraft evolved from the company's FJ Fury design. In contrast to the swept winged F-86 Sabre, the Fury was straight winged aircraft. Hence, after incorporating the changes, F-86 was built to meet the United States' need for high altitude and a day fighter. The F-86 Sabre was different from other manufactured planes in many different ways. It was a swept winged plane with hydraulic speed brakes. The control system of the aircraft was also hydraulic operated. While the designing of this aircraft started during the World War II, this aircraft was not launched until the end of the conflict.

The F-86 Sabre consisted of all metal structure with rigid construction. It was United States' first operation swept wined fighter aircraft and was a single engine and single seated jet fighter. Although this aircraft was produced in the late 1940's, it was used as a frontline fighter for many years due to its adaptable nature. This was the first aircraft that benefitted from the flight research seized from the German aerodynamicists that showed that swept winged aircrafts could be managed at much higher speeds than the straight winged aircrafts. The result was the creation of a single engine fighter jet with excellent viability and splendid gun platform. The maiden flight of North American F-86 Sabre occurred on 1st October 1947 with George "Wheaties" Welch flying the aircraft from Muroc Dry Lake, California. (Wagner, 1963) This aircraft officially set the record for the world high speed of 1080km/hour in September 1948. It is also believed that the test pilot George Welch broke the sound barrier in a dive on a test flight.

The North American F-86 Sabre was developed as an interceptor aircraft and as a fighter bomber. Several important variants and improvements were also made over the years. This aircraft is fitted with General Electric J35-C-3 which produced 9250 lbf of thrust. The fighter version of this aircraft could carry more than 900 kgs of bombs. The F-86 Sabre could also be equipped with external jet fuel tanks that increased the range of the aircrafts. This aircraft also had capacity to carry rockets on combat operations. All the versions of the aircraft were fitted with M3 Browning machine guns that could fire 1602 rounds/minute up to 1000 feet. (Dunlap, 1998) The aircraft was also later fitted with APG-30 radar which gave a critical advantage over MiG opponents in Korea.

Being a fighter jet, this aircraft was loaded with guns, rockets and bombs. The guns fitted in this aircraft were six M2 Browning machine guns that could fire 1602 rounds in total. There were many different types of rocket launchers for e.g. Matra rocket pods with 68 mm rockets per pod. The bombs in this aircraft were usually installed on outer two pylons. The inner pairs were gauged with 2200 U.S. gallons drop tanks which proved a significant advantage for F-86 Sabre. This aircraft could carry a wide variety of bombs and napalm canisters that were loaded with magnesium during the Korean War. These armaments proved a tactical nuclear weapon during the war.

The Sabre aircraft entered the America's Air Force in 1949 when it entered the 94th Fighter Squadron and became an important jet aircraft used by the United States during the Korean War. The F-86 Sabre entered the competition with MiG-15 which also had swept wings and was supersonic in its dive. The Sabre was hence used to confront MiG-15 during the Korean War. They were flown from Kimpo Air Base near Seoul. Although F-80 and F-84 aircrafts achieved successes initially, they were instantly outperformed with the introduction of Soviet's MiG-15. In response to this, F-86 aircrafts were dispatched and they became the effective fighter aircrafts during the combat operations above the Yalu River. (Warren, 2006) As a day fighter, these aircrafts served in Korea with three successive improved models i.e. F-86A, F-86E and F-86F matched closely with the Russian built MiG-15. F-86 Sabres were able to outdrive the MiG-15 despite their superiority in acceleration due to F-86 Sabres' impressive shoot down advantage. Hence, F-86 Sabre was able to achieve a victory ratio of 10 to 1 against the adversary jet, MiG-15.

Many American pilots who had the experience of flying aircrafts during the World War 2 also contributed to F-86's success. Although MiG-15 were flown by the Soviet pilots who had more combat experience, more MiG-15 were shot down during the war than F-86 aircrafts. F-86 aircrafts were more efficient at surpassing the speed of sound so they could easily resume from a sonic drive than MiG-15 who could not exceed Mach 0.93. Moreover, great effort was put into training the pilots of F-86 aircraft. When the war ended, the F-86 Sabre was acknowledged for destroying 792 MiG as compared to loss of only 78 Sabre. Apart from its assistance in Korea, F-86s was also used overseas throughout the Cold War. But as the new Century Series of the fighter aircrafts were created, F-86s were sent to the Air National Guard where they were used until 1970. Moreover, The North American F-86 Sabre also played an important role in 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis where F-86 Sabre and MiG fought again during the crisis when the communists in China wanted to drag the Nationalists out of the islands of Quemoy.

The North American F-86 Sabre was also used utilized during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. During the war, the F-86 became the mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force. Although F-86 Sabre was at that time no longer a world class fighter, it somehow gave Pakistan Air Force a technological advantage. (Hussain, 2002) Despite the fact that Indian Air Force had advantage in aircrafts, through this aircraft PAF was able to achieve 91 air kills and dominated the air combat in 1965. Hence, F-86 Sabre has proved to be speedy, maneuverable and difficult to fight in wars.