North American F-86A Sabre
The first production Sabre — the swept-wing day fighter that met the MiG-15 over Korea · First flight 1948 · In service 1949
The F-86A was the production form of the XP-86, which George Welch first flew on 1 October 1947. Where the prototype used a J35 engine of 18 kN, the F-86A-1 had the General Electric J47-GE-7 of 23 kN; the first production aircraft flew on 20 May 1948. Armament was six 12.7 mm machine guns, aimed on the first aircraft with a manual-ranging Mark 18 computing gunsight. North American built 554, and 11 were later converted into RF-86A reconnaissance aircraft with three cameras.
On 15 September 1948 Maj. Richard L. Johnson set a world speed record of 1,079.6 km/h (670.9 mph) in an F-86A. When the MiG-15 appeared over Korea, the USAF rushed three F-86 squadrons to the Far East in December 1950. On 17 December 1950 Lt. Col. Bruce Hinton, commander of the 336th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, scored the first MiG-15 kill by an F-86.
Two squadrons of the 4th Wing were forward-based at Kimpo (K-14) and flew over the area of north-west Korea that pilots called 'MiG Alley'. Once later models replaced it in front-line service, the F-86A passed to Air National Guard units in the United States, which flew it into the late 1950s.
