Chock full of detail photos and pages from the erection manual, this book provides a great source of detail images for the Sabre modeler. Written by former USAF Museum Director Dave Menard and Walt Fink under a pair of pseudonyms, the book traces the development of the F-86 from the original drawings through the F-86H. There’s plenty of coverage of the Korean War, but more useful are the contemporary drawings of the throttle assembly, gun bays and wing slats and photos of the consoles, instrument panel, and behind-the-seat radio shelf of the F-86F will make modelers happy. The text offers concise explanations of Project Ashtray, the early experiment in creating a photo-reconnaissance Sabre, and Project GUNVAL, which up-armed the
F-86 with 20mm cannons. There are also good images of the ejection seat and cockpit components of the F-86H. The book also has a brief color section that illustrates such anomalies as a Korean F-86F in camouflage, an all-yellow F-86A target tug of the Montana Air National Guard, a brightly-trimmed F-86H which served as a chase plane for the F-104 program, and Sabres from Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan and Australia (this being the only appearance of the CAC CA-27 in
the book). If there’s a drawback, it’s that the book bites off more than it can chew; 100 pages is not enough space to cover the many evolutions of the F-86 in its many incarnations. Still, with a $17 price tag, this is a valuable reference, especially for the F-86F and F-86H.
 |
| Warbird Tech Vol. 3: North American F-86 Sabre Jet Day Fighters contains many great reference photos, charts and drawings. This is a rare look at the mock–up of the straight–wing XP-86. |
Chris Bucholtz has been building models since 1973 and has been a member of SVSM since 1986. His interests include 1/72 scale aircraft of all types, but specifically World War II and subjects whose pilots or crew he has met.
