Canadair Sabre

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Canadair Sabre

Canadair Sabre
Type	Fighter
Manufacturer	Canadair
Maiden flight	9 August 1950
Introduced	1950
Retired	1980, Portugal
Primary users	Royal Canadian Air Force United States Air Force Royal Air Force Luftwaffe
Number built	1,815
Developed from	F-86 Sabre
Variants	FJ Fury

The Canadair Sabre was a fighter jet built by Canadair Ltd. in Montreal, Canada under licence from California-based North American Aviation Inc.

1 History
2 Design and development
3 Operational service
4 Variants
5 Operators
6 Women's Speed Records
7 Golden Hawks
8 Specifications (for the Sabre 5)
9 References
10 External links
11 Related content

[edit] History

In 1948, the Canadian government decided to re-equip the RCAF with the F-86 Sabre and Canadair was contracted to produce them. An initial batch of 10 aircraft was ordered for tool verification. The Korean War changed this to a production batch of 100 aircraft. Due to difficulties in obtaining parts and equipment from the USA, Canadair slowly built up its production facility to make all components with related equipment obtained from other Canadian suppliers. Canadair gave the Sabre the project number CL-13, but this was seldomly used, even internally.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Design and development

There were seven versions of the F-86 Sabre produced at Canadair. The Sabre Mk 1 was essentially the same as the North American Sabre F-86A. It had a General Electric J47-GE-13 turbojet of 5200 lbf (23 kN) thrust. The Sabre Mk 2 had the same engine, although after the first 20 aircraft were produced, the remainder of the production run was distinquished in having power-assisted controls and an "all-flying" tailplane. The Sabre Mk 3 was the first of the Canadian Sabres to use an Avro Canada Orenda (Orenda 3 turbo-jet with 6000 lbf (27 kN) thrust) turbojets. The Sabre Mk 4 reverted to the General Electric engine and were destined for the RAF and other overseas air forces. The Sabre Mk 5 was the next production version, equipped with an Orenda 10 with 6500 lbf (29 kN) thrust. A change to the Orenda 14 with 7440 lbf (33 kN) powered the Sabre Mk 6. The designation Sabre Mk 7 was mainly experimental. From 1950 to 1958, a total of 1,815 CL-13 Sabres were built at the Canadair plant in Montreal.

[edit] Operational service

The second generation of Canadair Sabre aircraft was the Mk 2 and 350 were constructed in 1952/53 and delivered to the RCAF. Additionally in the first half of 1952, 60 Mk 2s were supplied to the USAF for use in the Korean War. Most RCAF Sabres Mk 2 were utilized in the air defence role in the NATO European environment proving itself to be one of the "dogfighters" in NATO, while others were assigned to the training role at bases in Canada.

In mid-1952, the Sabre Mk 4 went into production with the first one flown on 28 August 1952. Essentially, apart from some minor structural and systems changes, including improved air-conditioning and gun sight; the two variants were identical. Of 438 Mk 4s built, only 10 were delivered to the RCAF. The others went directly to the RAF under a mutual aid programme, equipping 11 RAF squadrons; the majority serving in West Germany with NATO. The Sabre Mk 4 served with the RAF until mid-1965 when they were declared redundant and subsequently overhauled and passed on to Italy's and Yugoslavia's air forces.

On 30 July 1953, the first Sabre Mk 5 flew with the Orenda 10 engine, which gave it a clear rate of climb and ceiling advantage over earlier variants. Other Mk 5 improvements included a new oxygen system and improved manoeuverability and low-speed characteristics achieved by increasing the wing chord by six in. ( 15.2 cm.) at the root and three in. (7.2 cm.) at the wing tip along with fitting a small vertical wing fence. Canadair would produce 370 Mk 5s with the majority designated for use in the RCAF’s Air Division squadrons in Europe to replace the Mk 2s. A total of 107 surplus Mk 2s were overhauled and provided to the Turkish and Greek air forces.

The Canadair Sabre Mk 6 was the last variant and considered to be the "best" production Sabre ever built. It was equipped with a two-stage Orenda engine developing 7,275 lb. (3,302 kg.) of static thrust. Its altitude performance and climb rate was again enhanced over the Mk 5 and the installment of a slotted wing gave it excellent low-speed characteristics. The first production model was completed on 2 November 1954 and ultimately 655 were built with production terminating on 9 October 1958. A total number of 390 Mk 6s went to the RCAF with the majority replacing the existing Canadair Sabres at the Air Division squadrons in Germany and France. The main air threats to NATO in the 1950s in Central Europe were the early variants of the Soviet MiG- the MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21. Based on the Korean War experience, the selection of the Mk 6 Sabre to provide an effective opposition to the MiG threat proved to be a logical one. Canada’s commitment to NATO was to provide 12 squadrons located at four bases – two in France (Marville and Grostenquin) and two in Germany (Zweibrucken and Baden Soellingen). Initially, the contribution consisted of only Sabre aircraft, however, later it was decided to include the Avro CF-100 aircraft in the defense package to provide a night and all-weather fighter capability. For the majority of their NATO service, the Canadair Sabre reigned supreme as the best dogfighter in European skies.

In addition to the RCAF and RAF commitment, 225 Canadair Mk 6 Sabres were exported to the West German Luftwaffe, six were delivered to the Columbian Air Force and 34 went to the South African Air Force.

Canadair Sabres were dominant in the two major conflicts in which they were employed: the Korean War where F-86 Sabres racked up an impressive 11-1 kill record and the Indo-Pakistani War (1971). In January 1966, Germany sold 90 of its Canadian Mk 6 Sabres to Iran. These aircraft were quickly transferred to Pakistan and became the main day fighter of the Pakistan Air Force. In the ensuing conflict with India, the Canadair Sabre quickly established air superiority over the battlefield area. This was accomplished in spite of India’s superior aircraft numbers and the acquisition of the new supersonic MiG-21s by the Indian Air Force.

[edit] Variants

Sabre Mk 1 - one built, prototype F-86A
Sabre Mk 2 - 350 built, F-86E-type, 60 to USAF, three to RAF, 287 to RCAF
Sabre Mk 3 - one built in Canada, test-bed for the Orenda jet engine
Sabre Mk 4 - 438 built, production Mk 3, 10 to RCAF, 428 to RAF as Sabre F 4
Sabre Mk 5 - 370 built, F-86F-type with Orenda engine, 295 to RCAF, 75 to Luftwaffe
Sabre Mk 6 - 655 built, 390 to RCAF, 225 to Luftwaffe, six to Colombia and 34 to South Africa

[edit] Operators

Bangladesh, Burma, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia

In the mid-1950s, just prior to the Suez Crisis, Israel attempted to purchase two dozen F-86s from Canada because of what they saw as the superior Avro engine. However, due to long delays getting Cabinet approval and Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent's reluctance to seem biased in the Middle-East conflict,^{[citation needed]} the purchase was not allowed to go forward until fighting actually broke out in the Suez Crisis which was too late for the fighters to be of any use. Israel ended up canceling the deal and purchasing an additional 24 French Dassault Mystères instead.

[edit] Women's Speed Records

In 1952, Jacqueline Cochran, then aged 47, decided to challenge the World Speed Record for Women, then held by Jacqueline Auriol. She tried to borrow an F-86 from the USAF, but was refused. She was introduced to an RCAF Air Vice-Marshal who, with the permission of the Canadian Minister of Defence, arranged for her to borrow a Sabre 3. Canadair sent a 16-man support team to California for the attempt. On 18 May 1953, Ms. Cochran set a new 100 km speed record of 1050.15 km/h (652.5 mph). Later on 3 June, she set a new 15 km closed circuit record of 1078 km/h (670 mph). While she was in California, she exceeded 1270 km/h in a dive, and thus became the first woman to exceed the speed of sound.

The Golden Hawks in flight

[edit] Golden Hawks

The Golden Hawks were a Canadian aerobatic flying team that was established in 1959 to celebrate the RCAF's 35th anniversary and the "Golden" 50th anniversary of Canadian flight, which began with the AEA Silver Dart in 1909. Initially, a six-plane team flying brilliantly-painted metallic-gold Canadair Sabre Mk 5s, was envisioned as performing for only one year, but the Golden Hawks were so popular after their single 63-show season that the team was expanded. In the following year, another plane was added to the team, allowing for a five-plane main formation with two solo jets. The Golden Hawks continued performing for three more seasons, changing to the Mk 6 in 1961, until they were disbanded on 7 February 1964, having flown a total of 317 shows across North America.

[edit] Specifications (for the Sabre 5)

Span - 37 ft 1½ in (11.32 m)
Length - 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Height - 14 ft 9 in (4.49 m)
Empty Wt - 10,638 lb (4,825 kg)
Max Wt - 17,560 lb (7,965 kg)
Max Speed - 696 mph (1120 km/h)
Ceiling - 50,700 ft (15,450 m)

[edit] References

Dempsey, Daniel V. A Tradition of Excellence: Canada's Airshow Team Heritage. Victoria: High Flight Enterprises Ltd., 2002. ISBN 0-9687817-0-5.
Milberry, Larry. The Canadair Sabre. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1986. ISBN 0-9690703-7-3.
Pickler, Ron and Milberry, Larry. Canadair: the First 50 Years. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1995. ISBN 0-921022-07-7.