North American F-86K Sabre

History

Already in 1944, North American started with design NA-134, the XFJ-1 Fury for the US Navy.

In January 1945, there were three prototypes ordered and later that year an order for 100 production aircraft followed. At the same time, the USAF was looking for a medium-range fighter.
North American proposed a somewhat modified version of the NA-134, the NA-140 and received in May 1945  an order for three prototypes designated XP-86.
The aircraft was equipped with a pressurized cabin, six .50 inch carriers, and a Sperry type A-1B gun / bomb / rocket sight, which collaborated with the AN / APG-5 range radar.

The type reached a maximum speed of about 924 km/h, lower the required 965 km/h. Also the range was to small, just about 478 km on only the internal fuel stock of 1550 l. This could be increased to 1200 km with two external tip tanks of approximately 644 l each.

The project was to be abandoned because the aircraft did not meet the USAF requirements. However, by the end of the second world war, a lot of information was released from the German Aviation Industry. One important aspect was the arrow wings, which yielded a better performance at subsone speeds.
This type of wing, however, caused problems at lower speeds, which the engineers of North American solved by the use of automatic slats.

In the autumn of 1945 a revised design of the XP-86 was built.
The changes caused a significant delay in the development of the project and in August 1946, the construction of the new aircraft was actually started.
On October 1, 1947, the XP-86 made its first flight. The climb speed was rather low because of the relatively weak engine, but the P-86A production machines would be equipped with a stronger General-Electric J47 of nearly 2300 kg of thrust.

In October 1947, North-American was commissioned to build 33 P-86As plus another 190 examples of an enhanced version, the P-86B.

The USAF carried out extensive tests with the three prototypes.

In 1949, North American began developing an all-wheather interception version of the F-86, NA-165. Unlike the interceptors of that time, it was a single seat aircraft.
The type was equipped with a radar-led interception system, an AN/APG-36 search radar and an General-Electric J47-GE-17 with a pressure of 2267 kg and over 3000 kg with the after-burner.
The radar was housed in the nose, so the air intake was situated lower. Furthermore, the conventional armament of 20 mm guns  was replaced by  24 2.75 inch 'Mighty Mouse' rocket in a bin under the fuselage.

However, the 20 mm gun weapon was also studied, but in February 1950, this type of armour was abandoned and chosen for the missiles. The rear sliding canopy was replaced by an upside down type.

The new type was initially referred to as F-95 and in October 1949 122 examples were ordered as F-95 and two examples as YF-95A.
At the moment of roll-out of the first YF-95A in September 1949, the fire management system was not yet available, and the usual F-86A systems were built in order not to delay the project too much. In May 1950, the Hughes fire control system was available and this was extensively tested for two years.

In the summer of 1950, the device was renamed F-86D, mainly for political reasons. Partly under the influence of the Korean war, large orders were soon put in place and the type was then extensively used.

The US then considered the new E-4 fire management system too valuable to export and a simplified version of the F-86D was developed, the F-86K, NA-205 project. By the time this type came into production, however, the F-86D was already replaced by the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger and McDonnell F-101B Voodoo and these were available for export to allied partners.
Another reason for not releasing the E-4 fire guidance for export the system had not yet reached all childhood diseases.
North-American had developed its own fire-guiding system MG-4 for the NA-205 project, which managed the four 20mm M-24A1 guns using the APG-37 search radar in the nose. A modified A-4 visor was also used.
Two F-86Ds 52-3630 and 52-3804 acted as prototypes, designated as YF-86K. The first YF-86K made its first flight in mid July 1954 and was equipped with the General-Electric J47-GE-17B of 3.401,94 kg of thrust.

In mid-May 1953, Fiat received a license for the F-86K construction. Initially, these were 50 sets, designated NA-207, assembled at Fiat. Fiat-built aircraft were delivered to the Armee de l'Air, Luftwaffe, Aeronautica Military and also to the Royal Air Force and the Norwegian Air Force.

In addition, due to the production speed, another 120 examples were built by North American, referred to as NA-213. These were delivered under MDAP conditions to the Dutch Air Force and also to the Norwegian Air Force, with the USAF serial numbers 54-1231 to 54-1350 . The type hardly differed hardly from the F-86D-40 and could also use two 120 US gallon wing tanks . The hull was lengthened by about 20 cm because of the guns.

The first North-American F-86K flew in early March 1955. The remaining aircraft were all built between April and December 1955 in California. One example remained for testing purposes in the US, the rest was transferred to the Norwegian and Dutch Air Force.

The first Fiat assembled F-86K (MM6185 / 53-8273) made the first flight on May 23, 1955. More sets of F-86K parts were delivered in Italy under the following contracts:

• NA-221 (70 aircraft, August 1954, 55-4811 / 4880)
• NA-232 (56 aircraft, July 1955, 55-4881 / 4936)
• NA-242 (45 aircraft, December 1955, 56-4116 / 4160)

The NA-242 batch differs from the previous batches by the extended leading edges and extended wing tips, as applied to the North American F-86F-40-NA. This increased the span from 11.31 meters to 11.92 meters. Many Fiat-assembled F-86Ks were retrofitted to bring them to NA-242 standard.

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