The First Ace Is Crowned
by Captain James J. Jabara
334th FIS, Suwon AB, 20 May 1951
The following account is based on the after-action report of Captain James J. Jabara, 334th FIS, Suwon AB, 20 May1951It was Sunday, 20 May 1951, and history was about to he made. Back home the folks watched Eddie Lopat win his 7th game in a row for the Yankees, who were leading the American League as usual. The National League was led by Brooklyn's Dodgers. People were watching Van Johnson in the theaters, as he led the Japanese-American 442nd RCT in the movie "Go For Broke", while Robert Mitchum was chasing Ava Gardner in the film "My Forbidden Past".
But at Suwon AB, the men of the 4th FIG were about to take off into history. It was the afternoon mission, a MiG sweep over Sinuiju, 4 flights of 6 with 4 'spares'. Lt.Col. Bruce Hinton led PINTAIL ABLE flight with Col. Herman Schmid, Capt. Sam Pasecreta, 1/Lt. Paul Bryce, Capt 'Mo' Pitts, and 1/Lt Rudy Holley. PINTAIL BAKER was led by Capt. Max Weill, with 1/Lt. John Ironmonger, Capt. Ray Janeczek, 1/Lt. Howard Miller, l/Lt. Ward Hitt, and Capt. Dale Hudson.
AWNING ABLE flight was made up of Lt.Col. Ben Emmert, 1/Lt. Bill Ihrig, Capt. Milton Nelson, 1/Lt James Dennison, 1/Lt 'Hoot' Gibson, and 1/Lt. Lon Walter. AWNING BAKER was led by Capt. J.O. Roberts, with 1/Lt. John Hungerford on his wing; Capt. Jim Jabara led the second element, with 1/Lt. Jack Kemp as his wingman; Capt. 'Sandy' Hesse and 1/Lt Stan Ahrends made up the third element. 1/Lt. Hubert Shackleford, Dick Panter, Bobbie Lee Smith, and Phil Janney flew 'spare'.
About 15 miles SE of Sinuiju, a fight was starting to ta~e shape. Baker 3 and 4, Jim Jabara and Jack Kemp, had just dropped their tanks when two things occurred. First, Jim's right wing tank did not drop. And second, they sighted a large gaggle of Migs in their area. Orders were that any airplane with tanks that wouldn't drop, especially one with only one tank that didn't drop, was to immediately depart the area and head for home. But this might be Jim Jabara's last mission, and he wasn't going to let one hung tank interfere with his possibly making ace.
Jim Jabara: - "We heard Col. Hinton call out "many bandits crossing the river". We were still approaching the area, coming up on the west coast to the mouth of the river. Col. Emmert ordered us to "Drop tanks!" just as we made landfall. As we approached Sinuiju, I saw about 12 Migs, which turned and started toward us. It was then that I noticed that my right tank hadn't dropped."
"We were at about 27,000'. They were high, maybe 3000' above us. The Migs continued closing as we turned into them. Two of the Migs fired on us as we closed in a head-on pass. I fired and missed as we passed each other. They missed and overshot badly. I tried to turn and get on their tail. But with that right tank still 'hung', I couldn't get into any kind of position. That tank really screwed me on that pass."
"Kemp called to tell me about 3 more at our 5 o'clock, getting into position. That made twelve of them to the two of us. As these three Migs overshot, Kemp and I cranked her around and broke into them. I picked out the no.3 MiG, which seemed to be slightly behind the other two. The Mig went into a constant left turn, and we went round and round for awhile."
"At about 25,000' 1 started to pull within range. I fired once, then again. The second burst caught the Mig right below the cockpit, through the wing root, and across the left wing. It suddenly burst into flames, did a couple of snap rolls, and went into a spin. I could see him the whole time because he was trailing heavy black smoke.
"I kept watching it and thought it was going to go straight in. But at about 10,000', the Mig leveled out just for a minute, and I saw the pilot bail out. The Mig then just exploded. I don't think there was a big piece of it fell at all. I made a pass at the pilot with my camera rolling. I almost hit him when I bent down to turn on the camera, and had to pull up to avoid him. He was twirling in the 'chute, and all dressed in black."
"We were down to about 7,000' when the Mig exploded. Jack and I started to climb back to altitude. About 20,000' I spotted 6 more MiGs - four in a fingertip formation, and two more trailing. Somewhere in the climb Kemp and I had separated. I don't know where he was. They were in a left turn and evidently didn't see me at all. I pulled in behind the number 6 Mig and fired."
"The first four Migs dove down and away. The guy I had staked out just kept climbing straight ahead. His leader was also nowhere to be seen, and I figured he would be coming back at me. I had to keep one eye out for him, and the other on the Mig ahead of me."
"My MiG was still climbing and probably would have gotten away if he'd continued. But he suddenly dove down to the left. I had no trouble catching up with him. I started shooting as soon as I got within range. I got several good strikes. I don't know whether he was on fire or if he flamed out. But he was pouring white smoke out of his tailpipe."
"I overshot him right away, and he started a turn. Well, sort of a spiral - half spin, half spiral to the left. I looked around to see if anybody was on my tail, and put on my speed brakes. I knew he was in trouble, and I wanted to see if he was going to hit. I followed him down to 6500'. I think he was on fire, but I'm not sure because he was smoking like mad. He had definitely flamed out, going very slow, maybe 170 knots."
All of a sudden, there was popping all around me. There were Migs back there, and they were shooting at me! I broke real hard to the left, as hard as I could, pulled in the brakes and put on full power. I couldn't do much more than 500 knots because the airplane was very hard to control. I had to use both hands on the stick. It kept wanting to dip down to the left, probably becuase of the hung right tank. Every time I would straighten out, the Migs would shoot at me. Those reddish pink tracers were coming awfully close."
"Above me, a pair of F-86s were heading for home. It was 'Mo' Pitts and Rudy Holley. Pitts called Holley out the radio and said "There's an F-86 down there getting bounced by two MiGs." I said "I know it too damned well!" and Pitts called me and asked who the pilot was. I must have been in a high-G turn when I hollered into the radio "Jaaabbbaaarrraa!" Mo then said "Call us if you need help!" And I calmly replied that I could sure use some now."
"I kept breaking, then building up my air speed and breaking again. Mo and Holley came down and Holley started firing on the MiGs. One of the MiGs broke for the river. But the other was intent on getting me. He nearly had me now, and was closing the gap the whole time. Holley and Pilts pulled in behind the Mig that was behind me."
"Holley got off a couple of good bursts, hitting the MiG in the fuselage. The Mig started to smoke and dove away from us, heading straight for the Yalu. None of us could chase him down, even though he was crippled, as we were all way below 'Bingo'. We joined up and headed back to Suwon., landing on fumes."
The score for the day was five Damaged - Pitts, Holley, Weill, Janeczek, J.O. Roberts; one Probable by 'Hoot' Gibson, and three victories - Lt. Milton Nelson and two by Captain James J. Jabara.
The two by Jabara were his 5th and 6th, making him the first ace in the Korean War, and the first jet vs. jet ace in history. Jabara's total was 6 Kills, 1 Probable, and 4 Damaged. When Jabara landed at K-13, there was a crowd waiting for him, mostly his fellow pilots and ground crew. Almost as soon as Jim climbed out of the cockpit, Col. John Meyer, 4th Group Commander awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross. Later, in his private office, he chewed Jabara's butt for violating orders with regards to having a 'hung' tank.
By order of 5th Air Force, Jabara was sent home on the 22nd. He flew first to Johnson AB, Japan. Or rather he was flown to Johnson by C-54. Air Force had their first ace and they weren't taking any chances. Upon his return to the ZI, Jim was initially assigned to the Hq & Hq Squadron, USAF, Washington. Air Force wanted him to be an instructor and show the other pilots bound for Korea, how it was done. But Jabara would return in 1953, much to the dismay of the Mig pilots. They'd already had enough of Captain James J. Jabara.
RECOLLECTIONS OF JIM JABARA
By Lon Walter
As a tent mate of Captain James Jabara's at K-13 (Suwon) Korea on 20 May 1951, I had a ringside seat for the events that happened that day. But first, a little background:Our eight-man tents usually had fewer than that number of occupants, but seldom less than six. I recall only four other occupants of the "A" Flight tent. They were Capt. Milton E. "Nellie" Nelson, the flight commander, First Lieutenant Otis P. "Flash" Gordon, First Lieutenant James J. "Denny" Dennison, and Jabara. Jabby's cot was located in the northwest corner of the tent - corner locations afforded a tiny bit more privacy. Nellie had the southwest corner. Jabara was not technically a member of "A" Flight or the 335th Fighter Squadron. He was officially a member of the 334th. But because he had four victories, and the 334th had rotated to Johnson AB, Japan, he was "attached" to the 335th in hopes that he could get his fifth kill, and thereby give America its first ace of the Korean War.
I remember Captain Jabara as a pleasant and quiet tent mate. He kept a photograph of his wife, Nina, on a small table next to his cot. He was always considerate of others (very important in close quarter living), and was liked and accepted by all.
To illustrate the sort of leadership he had, I recall flying on his wing on a mission a few days before he became an ace. We had flown to the Yalu and patrolled the south bank without seeing any MiGs except the ones parked on the ramp at Antung. As we returned home, Captain Jabara and I were cruising southbound at about 30,000 feet between Pyongyang and Sinanju, when I spotted a lone swept-winged aircraft speeding in the opposite direction at a much lower altitude - heading toward Antung. I called this sighting to Jabby, and he replied, "I don't see him. You check him out. I'm on your wing." I called to drop tanks, and we did a split-S to try to overtake the bogey, but we reached minimum fuel before we could catch him. Understand here that this MIGHT have been his fifth kill, yet he selflessly allowed me to lead the pursuit.
On 20 May, I recall the excitement when Jabby taxiied his airplane to a stop, and was surrounded by well-wishers. He had just gotten his fifth and sixth kills on that mission. It was mass confusion, and Flash Gordon and I went back to the tent to await Jabby's return. When he came in, he had a mile-wide grin, and proudly accepted our handshakes. After only a few minutes of relaxation, a major wearing a starched uniform entered and identified himself as a public information officer (PIO) representing Headquarters, USAF. He told Jabby that he had flown his last mission (He was wrong, there, because Jabara came back for a second tour and more than doubled his kill total.), and that he would be going home to be hailed as history's first jet ace! He also warned him that he would be living in a fishbowl, and his life would not be his own any longer. He was now a national hero. This had a profound effect on all present, and it was with heavy hearts that we bade goodby to Captain Jabara later that day. I do not think he even got to fly an F-86 back to Japan, but was flown home on a C-54.
My own role on the 20 May mission was undistinguished, and I have thought about it many times in the past 46 years. During the mission briefing, Lt. Col. Ben Emmert, the 335th commander, had stressed that we could expect a big fight when we got near the Yalu (Man, was he right!). Because of this, he said he didn't want anyone to take a "sick" bird beyond Pyongyang, because he didn't want any pilot worrying about the condition of his aircraft while in a big fight. I had never aborted a flight, and figured I was not about to start THAT day! I think I was Awning Able 6, and was on Hoot Gibson's wing. As we climbed out, it was a beautiful day, and we could hear on the radio that festivities had already started at the Yalu. The Pintails (336th Squadron) were heavily involved.
Approaching Pyongyang, I made a check of my cockpit instruments, and noticed that the EGT (exhaust gas temperature, sometimes called TPT, or tailpipe temperature) gauge was pegged at the max. As I tapped the face of the dial, the needle dropped to zero, then began wandering all over the dial. EGT was a critical reading of engine performance, since in combat our throttles were usually "fire-walled" at 100% rpm, and an abnormally high temperature would require a throttle reduction. Without the gauge, I'd have no way of detecting an impending overheat, and either I had a bad gauge or something had happened in the tailpipe to cause the weird readings.
I was some POed, but like a good soldier, I gave Hoot the pre-arranged hand signal that I was returning to K-13. I understand that Hoot tacked onto Nellie Nelson and Denny Dennison, who were in the same flight.
All the way back to Suwon and after I landed, I listened on the radio to the big fight, and I realized that I had just missed an historic mission. I could have cried, and maybe I did. It turned out to be a bad gauge, of course. Ever since then, I've wished I had just ignored that gauge. If I had had more time in the '86, I might have done so, I think. Who knows? But I never aborted again (and never had a reason to do so).
In later years, I saw Jim Jabara many times. He was one of those rare individuals who never forgot a name or a face. Once you were his friend, you were always his friend. Although his life was cut short tragically by an automobile accident in 1966, he accomplished many other great things after becoming the first jet ace. He was the operations officer for the USAF's first B-58 "Hustler" wing. The B-58 was a true supersonic bomber, which technologically was well ahead of its time. I ran into Colonel Jabara in 1961 while he was in that outfit, and he told me of routinely flying the B-58 for 45 minutes at a speed of Mach 2. Even today, this performance can be matched only by the SR-71 and the Concorde. At the time of his death, he was commander of the 31st Fighter Wing at Homestead AFB, Florida. He was to be transferred to Bien Hoa AB, Vietnam, to be commander of the 3rd Fighter Wing.
As a sentimental end to this little account, in 1972, when I was the commander of the 31st Wing at Homestead, my family lived in the last house occupied by Colonel Jabara and his family. His name appeared on several documents, and on the drapes left in the house by the Jabaras. As the wing commander, I saw to it that a street was named in his honor, and a beautifully painted F-100 with his name on it was placed on a pedestal in front of the headquarters building. It is a high honor to have known James Jabara.
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RECOLLECTIONS OF JIM JABARAby Paul Kauttu
It was sometime in 1953, and 1 was telling war stories at the O'Club at Nellis. It was getting late, maybe a little after 9 pm. My CO, Major Bill Whisner, came to me and asked me if I'd do him a little favor. "Paul, would you mind saddling-up a T-Bird (T-33), and flying out to Travis to pick up Jim Jabara?" I asked him when, and he replied "Now." In less than a half hour, I was on my way to Travis AFB in California.In very short order, I was soon on my way back to Nellis with 'him' in the back seat The 'him' was Major James J. Jabara, first jet ace of the Korean War. He stuffed his B-4 bag down between the two cockpits, which promptly rendered my ejection seat inoperative. But I didn't say anything. When we reached our cruising altitude, about 20 grand for the short flight back to Nellis, I pulled the power back to about 96%. But almost immediately I saw the throttle advance back to full power. And I heard him mutter something about hauling ass.
Shortly thereafter, the cockpit became polluted with smoke. quite obviously coming from a good quality Cuban blend. Again, I said nothing, and we pressed on to a smooth landing on runway 20 at Nellis. It was about midnight. It had been a big event for me, and it still is. Major James Jabara was truly one of a kind flamboyant, respected, friendly. Too bad the likes of he, Whisner, Fernandez, and Kinchloe aren't able to enjoy these later years. They're all greatly missed.
No portion of this article may be used or reprinted without permission from the President of the F-86 Sabre Pilots Association or the editor of Sabre Jet Classics magazine.
GLIDING THE F-86
The Ultimate Range Extenderby Robert W. Smith
Ed: note: Bob Smith had a remarkable career in the Air Force In Korea, he destroyed two MiGs, with one probable and two damaged Between wars, he set a World Altitude Record of 120,800 feet in the NF-104A at Edwards AFR During the Vietnam War, as a squadron commander in F-l05s, he was awarded the Air Force Cross. He also holds the Silver Star, 5 DFCs, and 13 Ar Medals. After he retired from the Air Force, he had a successful twenty year career with the Martin Marietta Company. He is retired in Montverde, Florida, and enjoys golf and traveling. The story which follows is presented in two parts. Part II will appear in the Fall issue of Sabrejet Classics.You invited stories about the F-86H. And this is one. But I must preface it with a related tale from a thousand hours 1 enjoyed flying the F-86A, E, and F. Only a fool would tell this story, but I've been judged worse, so here goes. This fool flew more than 50 military aircraft types, and never enjoyed any of them more than flying the Sabre.
This F-86 story really began upon my graduation from Class SOC at Williams AFB, flying the F-80 Shooting Star. It was 24 June 1950, the day before the Korean War started. Those of us who had orders to Japan were reassigned stateside within days. I lucked out and went to the 1st Fighter Interceptor Group at March AFB, then to Griffis AFB, where I spent a year and 340 flight hours learning and enjoying the F-86A.
I also spent 20,000 feet learning to recover from a flat spin during my one and only flight in the F-51D Mustang. This occurred after I intentionally entered a normal spin for fun - only to have it become the dreaded flat spin. All this because I had a full fuselage tank, which I later learned was a big no-no. I found out recovery is possible in the Mustang, but only below 3,000 feet.
My good fortune with Sabre assignments then led to the 335th' Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter Interceptor Group at Kimpo AB, Korea, and my first combat tour. Although I ultimately got two MiG kills, a probable and two damaged, I like to think that my record would have been better except I lacked the eyes of an eagle, and not aggressiveness and gunnery skill, which are the other traits of the great aces.
After a couple of weeks at Johnson AB, Japan, home plate for the 4th, 1 joined the 335th at Kimpo (K-14). There, I was assigned to the tent of Captain Ralph D. 'Hoot' Gibson, who showed the kind of leader he was by always putting the new guys on his wing for their first mission. Others might have done it differently, since he was so close to becoming the second jet ace of the war. But not Hoot.
So there I was, on his wing, and we had cruised south of the Yalu for quite a while, when I got my first look at the awesome sight of a large (make that huge!) gaggle of MiGs approaching in the cons. We jettisoned our empty tanks and engaged the Migs. But before long I was a spectator watching Hoot shoot down a MiG. I was trying diligently to check our 6 o'clock while we were tracking the MiGs. But I confess, I was fascinated by the sight of tracers and the many, many hits on the Migs. They looked like big sparklers to me. Watching a MiG kill for the first time seemed almost surrealistic.
That MiG was history in no time, and Hoot closed on another one and began hammering him. Soon, other MIGs were cutting us off and closing to near firing range behind me. I told Hoot about the MiGs closing at our 6, but he told me to let him know if I had to break off. The lead MiG on my tail started shooting far enough out that his golf ball tracers were falling short. But he soon closed the gap and fired a burst that passed right over my right wing.
I'm sure he was using the Mig's big 37mm cannon, because the red balls were so large, and the rate of fire was slow. Right then, I called Hoot and told him that I was breaking hard right. Then told him that all four Migs were sticking with me! He asked if I needed help, and pride and bravado prompted me to say that I could handle it! I thought I could easily shake these birds. However, we were near 'Bingo' fuel, so I knew I had to do it quickly. We were high enough that I could make a diving turn to gain a speed advantage as I had been taught (the Sabre was much faster than the MiG in a dive), pulling just enough g's to make it unlikely that the Migs could draw a lead on me.
I pulled hard while holding aft trim, since my 'A' model was in the speed range where the elevator pulled like a gigantic rubber band, but produced little g response unless you used elevator trim. Suddenly something occurred that I had never encountered. I found my head down in my lap as I felt many g's for an extended period of time. Because I didn't feel the side load associated with a snap roll, I have always surmised that I had runaway trim. And since I never used shoulder straps as a wingman in Korea, I literally could not look outside.
All my efforts to push the stick forward and retrim the airplane, were useless. Although I was still concerned about the MiGs, I finally extended the speed brakes, pulled the throttle to idle, and found that I could raise my head again. My Sabre and I were down to 4,000 feet, and we were climbing steeply somewhere between Anj and Sinanju.
At this point I had real fuel problems and turn towards home as I continued to climb. And the four MiGs were still there! They now began a series of high side firing passes on me that looked like gunnery school. found that I now had very little roll response - slow and sluggish. The Migs took advantage of my vulnerability and continued their passes. I couldn't understand why they didn't just slip in behind me for an easy kill. Maybe they didn't know my problem, and didn't want force me to break.
This went on for what seemed an eternity, and continued working my way south. I tried to increase their angle of attack by turning into them as best I could without varying too much from my southerly heading. A Elvis said, I was " all shook up", since my breaks so gentle. I thought each of their passes would be the end of me. Suddenly my fear turned to blind fury, and I emptied my six .50s in one long burst at the next MiG. that passed in front of me. Of course, it was futile, because I wasn't able to get my sight on him until he was long gone. To this day, I can visualize the .50 caliber rounds tumbling out of burned out barrels before the last shot left.
Thank goodness, the Migs then left. While I like to think that they had had enough of that crazy American, the truth is, they were probably also low on fuel. I climbed toward home base until I had between 15 and 20 gallons showing on the fuel gauge. Then I shut down the engine to save those precious few gallons for the landing. It was still over 175 miles back to K-I 4, and I started the long glide home. I knew it could be done as others had done it before me.
However, that little bit of knowledge didn't make it any easier on my nerves. As I approached Kimpo, I called the tower and told them of my situation. They didn't have to clear the pattern as I was the airplane returning from the mission. At the right time, I made an air start, and landed after a long, straight-in approach. Everyone else had landed long ago, and Hoot had already written me off!
Major Winton W. 'Bones' Marshall, the 335th PIS commander, met me on the ramp and we inspected the airplane. There weren't any holes, but that was the only consolation. The wing stress plates were severely damaged. And the ailerons were so deformed that they were physically binding. The resettable 'Max G' needle (removed on later airplanes) was pegged. If my memory serves me (and it often doesn't anymore), that was 12-14 g's. That mission began my use, or abuse, of power~ff cruise descents. In my own defense, I think I did better on my next 99 missions, and even had the honor of leading the wing on a mission as a first lieutenant.
- to be continued -
RF-86F HAYMAKER
by Larry Davis
Towards the end of 1952, the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron sought authorization to reequip with newer aircraft. The F-86F was already in service with both the 4th and 51st Fighter interceptor Groups, and new aircraft were arriving each day. North American Aviation was working on a factory-built RF-86, but it was still many months away. Far East Air Material Command authorized a conversion of several F-86F aircraft to RF-86F under Project HAYMAKER. Several brand new F-86F-30 aircraft went to the Tsuiki Rear Echelon Maintenance Combined Operation (REMCO) facility in Japan after a short combat stint with one of the groups in Korea.At Tsuiki, the aircraft had all armament, radars, and the gun sight removed. A camera suite identical to that of the ASHTRAY RF-86A was then installed, but using K-14 cameras in place of the slower speed K-9s Again, the K-14s had to be mounted horizontally shooting through a mirror complex with an aperture in the bottom of the fuselage. The K-14 dicing camera was now mounted between the two vertical cameras. As with the RF-86A, the underside of the forward fuselage was bulged to cover the camera suite installation. The Tsuiki REMCO facility built 3 HAYMAKER RF-86F-30s, serial 52-4330, -4257, and -4529.
The HAYMAKER, RF-86F-30s began equipping the 15th TRS at Kimpo in 1953, flying side by side with the ASHTRAY aircraft that remained in service. Once again, the RF-86Fs were marked identical to aircraft of the 4th FTG, including painting fake gun ports on the blank gun panels. The mission profiles were identical to the RF-86A. Takeoff as lead in a flight of four 4th FIG F-86s. Near the target area, often north of the Yalu River, the RF-86F broke down and away from the rest of the flight. The RF-86F pilot would then make a high Mach run over the target while the rest of the flight orbited nearby.
The results of both the ASHTRAY and HAYMAKER programs were successful in spite of the shortcomings of a 'field-modified' installation. No HAYMAKER aircraft were lost. In June 1953, the first North American RF-86F production aircraft began arriving in Korea. The factory-built aircraft were a vast improvement over the HAYMAKER aircraft. Using all the available information that was coming in daily from the pilots of the 67th TRW in Korea, North American engineers fixed all the problems that
The camera suite was the latest high speed unit, using a pair of K-22s and a K-l7 dicing camera. However, it was not mounted horizontally, and used no mirrors in the installation. The K-22s were mounted vertically. However, the vertically mounted K-22s, with their longer focal length, took the main camera body and film magazines, outside the fuselage contours of the F-86. North American solved this by simply designing a large bulge on the gun bay door, which covered the film magazine.
Ballast totaling almost 750 lbs, needed to re-align the aircraft center of gravity, was added to the forward fuselage. The canopy of the factory-built RF-86F was elongated to counter a buffet caused by the bulged fuselage. All camera windows had sliding doors. And the factory aircraft had the new '6-3' hard wing with leading edge fences.
North American built 8 RF-86Fs for the US Air Force (serials 52A377, -4379, -4492, -4800, -4808, -4822, A823, and 4864). None of the factory-built RF-86Fs were completed in time to join in the combat during the war in Korea. However, all the RF-86Fs were involved in clandestine and standard reconnaissance missions after the war ended, including many missions into China and Soviet Union air space which remain classified to this day.
In spite of the success in combat of the RF-86A and F programs, Air Force chose a reconnaissance version of the Republic F-84F as their next generation tactical recon aircraft - the RF-84F Thunderflash. However, interest in the RF-86F by Japan, South Korea, and Nationalist China, kept the type in front line service into the 1980s. North American Aviation provided conversion 'kits' to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, who were in the process of assembling F-86FA-40 aircraft.
Mitsubishi converted at least 18 aircraft to RF-86F-40 standard. The 501st Hikotai (squadron) finally turned in their RF-86Fs in favor of RF-4E Phantoms on I October 1979 South Korea had one squadron of 10 RF-86Fs still flying missions in the late 1980s. These aircraft were made up of F-86F-25 and -30 air frames, which were brought up to F-40 standard, then converted to RF-86F. The Taiwanese Air Force on Formosa had 7 RF-86Fs, all modified similar to the South Korean RF-86Fs.
Several RF-86F aircraft survived the many years of front line service, only to be used up in the US Navy target drone program at China Lake NAS. One of the original North American Aviation built RF-86F-30s assigned to the 15th TRS, #524492, had been a 'gate guard' at Bergstrom AFB, Texas until the base was closed. It is now at the US Air Force Museum awaiting a complete restoration back to its Cold War markings of the immediate post-Korean War era.
The Sabrejet Classics Editor is working with the restoration people at Wright-Patterson and would like to hear from any member that might have stories and photos of 15th TRS RF-86Fs, especially the aircraft being restored. Please contact Larry Davis, Sabrejet Classics Editor, 4713 Cleveland Ave. NW, Canton, OH 44709.