AIR FORCE LEGENDS 212 NORTH AMERICAN F-86H SABRE ''HOG''.pdf

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
This
is
the
second
book in the Air
Force Legends Series
for
Earl Berlin.
His first
was
an excellent
history
on
the Douglas C-124 Globemaster. Earl
has plans for books on the Boeing B-
50 and the
Convair
XC-99.
Earl Berlin joined the Air Force in
1974 and attended tech school at
Chanute AFB, IL. His first assignment
was as a KC-135 crew chief at Altus
AFB, OK. His next assignment was
that of a F-105G crew chief at George
AFB, CA. He became a tech school
instructor at Sheppard AFB
,
TX,
before being assigned to F-4E/G
Phantoms at Spangdahlem AB,
Germany. Earl finished off his career
as the NCO/1 C of the Maintenance
Operation Center at Luke AFB, AZ.
Earl retired in 1995
as
a Master
Seargeant.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The author would like to thank the
following individuals for their contribu-
tions to this
work.
As
was
the case
with the C-124 book lauthored, this
project couldn
't
have
been completed
without the enthusiastic and authori-
tative
assistance of people who share
a fondness for the airplanes this
author
writes
about.
Steve Brown. He provided a huge
amount
of
help as I attempted to put
together a units-of-assignment table
that
would
show
wh
ich wings and
groups the individual F-86Hs served
with during the
active
duty part of
their careers.
Duncan Curtis. Who has authored
three
previous Naval Fighters/Air
Force
Legends
books
was a wealth
of
information.
David Menard. Provided
a world of
encouragement and
guidance and
photos.
MajGen Fred Ascani. Provided
encouragement and useful informa-
tion about
the
F-86H-equipped 50th
Fighter Bomb Wing.
Norman Taylor.
For providing
the
majority of photos used in
this book.
Henk Scharringa.
Provided excellent
photos for the book.
Jack H. Smith. Provided
excellent
photos for the book.
Lionel Paul. Provided photos and
leads on photos for this book.
David McLaren. Author of the P-51 H
book published in this series helped
with information and encouragement.
John Ragay. Who provided research
help with this and my previous C-124
book.
Morgan "Mac" Blair. Provided infor-
mation about the early development
of
-the
F-86H.
Craig Fuller. Provided a 30-page
"highlights"
version
of the report con-
cerning the crash of the F-86H in
wh ich Capt. Joseph McConnell was
killed.
Gordon
L.
Scharnhorst. Provided
photos and encouragement.
Norm Avery. Technical support and
photos.
Tom Hail. The Texas ANG historian
who provided contacts who provided
sources for ANG research.
Torsten Anft. Provided photos for
the book.
Paul Lincoln. Provided information
about F-86Hs on display at various
sites.
Duane Post. For providing photos.
Kimberly Berlin. Provided encour-
agement and financial support so that
I could make the annual trips to
Montgomery, AL, to complete my
research.
Pat Rodgers. An ever-enthusiastic
source of encouragement.
Kathi Spencer. For information on
the only F-86H being restored to fly-
ing condition.
Don Moyer. Provided information
about the aircraft at Front Royal, VA.
John
L.
Henderson. For F-86H infor-
mation.
Michael Lombardi. Boeing's
ever-
helpful historian. Provided copies of
archived material related to the F-
86H.
William Simone. A
serious
re-
earcher and an accomplished
author
in his
own
right.
William provided
a
wealth of
information
and
photos
related
to little-known
test projects
related to the
F-86H.
Greg Ely.
Greg
provided
information
about the
F-86H on
display at the
Western
Aerospace
Museum
in
Oakland, CA.
Danny J. Romani.
Provided informa-
tion
about the
F-86H
on
display
at
the
FRONT COVER:
138th TFS "The Boy's
trorn
Syracuse"
New York ANG F-86H-10 52-5747. (Jim
McLennan)
BACK COVER Left-side top-to-bottorn:
533rd FDS F-86H-10 53-1265. (Col. H.
Bomberger via Menard) F-86H-1 52-
1996 was bailed to Lockheed as an F-
104G chase plane. (Lockheed) 104th
TFS Maryland ANG F-86H-10 53-1250.
(via Kaston) 430th FBS at Greenland.
(USAF)
BACK COVER Right-side top-to-bot-
tom: 429th FBS belonged to the 474th
FBG gunnery team. (via Kaston) 101st
TFS Massachusetts ANG F-86H-10 53-
1515. (via Kaston) 3595th CCTW target
tug F-86H-10 53-1354. (Co
I.
J.
Ludwig
via D. Menard)
Combat Air Museum in Topeka, KS.
Emmett Hateh. Provided information
about the F-86H and the 50th Fighter
Bomb Wing.
Craig Kaston. For providing a trea-
sure
trove
of photos for this project.
Nick Williams. For proofreading and
photos for this book.
Barry Miller. For F-86H photos.
William Swisher. For his excellent
photos of the F-86H.
Corwin "Corky"Meyer. Grumman's
chief test pilot for his F-86H in-flight
evaluation. Corky has written Naval
Fighters #26 (Grumman XF10F
Jaguar), #40 (Grumman F11 F Tiger),
#44 (Grumman F11 F-1 F Super
Tiger). and #59 (Grumman F9F
Panther Part 1). Future Naval Fighter
Books on the F9F Cougar, F8F
Bearcat, F7F Tigercat, and F6F
Hellcat will be written by Corky.
All
rights
reserved. No part of this publica-
tion
may be reproduced, stored
in
a
retrieval system, or transmitted
in
any
form
by any
means
electronic, mechani-
cal, or otherwise without the written per-
mission
of
the
publisher.
©
2004 by
Steve
Ginter
ISBN 0-942612-89-2
Steve
Ginter, 1754 Warfield
Cir., Simi
Valley,
California, 93063
NORTH AMERICAN F-86H SABRE HOG BV EARL BERLIN
~:
INTRODUCTION
The F-86 Sabre is weil known for
its success during the Korean conflict
and its wide-spread popularity in air
forces around the world
.
Produced in
a variety of models and manufactured
in several countries, its simple rugged
design
,
dependability and popularity
with maintenance personnel and
pilots assured its continued use as a
front line fighter for decades.
Most of the Sabre variants have
been widely written about - save one
,
the F-86H
.
Built in relatively small
numbers (475), its service with the
front line squadrons of the United
States Air Force was brief. Design dif-
ficulties made its initial service intro-
duction awkward. Logistics problems,
stemming from the fact that the pro-
duction run was small and priority
was given to the evolving Century
se
ries
fighters, plagued the airplane
throughout its active service. l1's a
tribute to the maintenance personnel
within the squadrons, groups and
wings that they accomplished as
much as they did, given the supply
difficulties they encountered. More-
over, the F-100 Super Sabre had
already captured the imagination of
the military and the public alike and
the F-86H was overshadowed (per-
haps rightly so) by this state-of-the-art
fighter. The F-1 00 would have
its
own
very vexing teething problems but
would, in time, rise to become one of
the most significant jet fighters of all
time, serving the active Air Force
,
the
Air National Guard and several allied
air forces throughout the world.
Though the Sabre Hog, as it was
sometimes known, served only briefly
with Air Force combat wings and
groups, its service with the Air
National Guard lasted many years
and in that service it proved both
dependable and popular.
This book is written as a tribute to
those who flew
,
maintained and sup-
ported this most unsung version of
the F-86. l1's my sincere hope that it
sheds a proper light on the develop-
ment and service use of the F-86H
and I further hope it rekindles fond
memo ries of a too-little-praised mem-
ber of a proud jet fighter family.
DEVELOPMENT
Above, the #1
"Hog",
VF-86H 52-1975,
with AI Blackburn posing on the
entrance steps prior to the first flight at
Edwards AFB on 30 April 1953. (AFFTC
via Ray Puffer)
erful than the J47 used in all previous
day-fighter versions of the F-86. With
a maximum static thrust
rating
of
8,920 pounds, the J73 offered a 51
%
improvement in power over the J47-
GE-27 used in the F-86F.
A shorter and narrower engine
than the J47, the J73 required a
greater volume of air at maximum
thrust. The basic Sabre fuselage was
deepened six inches from the front to
back to accommodate the enlarged
air intake and this, in turn
,
provided
room for more fuel. Internal fuel
capacity rose by 29%.
No XF-86H was built, the two pro-
totypes were designated YF-86H and
were delivered with slatted wings.
Later in the flight test program
,
both
planes were modified to incorporate
the 6-3 wing leading edge extension
first introduced on the F-86F-25 and
F-86F-30. (The modification was
introduced on both blocks weil into
their respective production runs
.)
The F-86H was
initially
intended
to be a fighter-bomber version of the
classic Sabre day fighter, equipped
with a more powerful engine. The
new engine, the J73, built by General
Electric, was substantially more pow-
1
Above, YF-86H 52-1975 in flight with Joseph Lynch at the controls. (North
American) Below, "Wheaties" Welch stands next to 52-1975 on Muroc Dry lake
after a test flight. (North American) Bottom, F-86 test aircraft and North American
test pilots at Edwards in 1954. The F-86H stands tall in comparison to the F-86E
and F-86D. (North American Aviation via Kaston)
Flight tests at Edwards AFB
resulted in a recommendation
that
the
wing be extended 12-inches at each
tip. As best can be established, this
modification didn't produce the
desired results. The plane's maneu-
verability at 25,000 feet or more was
so poor that the plane was said to be
severely handicapped as an air supe-
riority fighter. The plane couldn
't,
according to test reports, pull more
than 1.5 g's at 40,000 feet
,
though it's
not clear whether that figure applied
to the wing with the tip extension or
the one without. In either case
,
high
altitude maneuverability was still less
than desirable.
The 6-3 modification
,
which
appears to have been made before
the installation of the wing tip exten-
sion modification, increased wing
chord 6-inches at the wing root and 3-
inches at the wing tip
.
The introduc-
tion of the 6-3 wing was supposed to
2

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