NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION F-86F SABRE
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(1955-1980)
The North American Aviation F-86 Sabre (sometimes called the Sabre jet) was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. The Sabre is best known for its Korean War role where it was pitted against the Soviet MiG-15 and obtained UN air superiority. Although developed in the late 1940s and outdated by the end of the 1950s, the Sabre proved adaptable and continued as a front line fighter in air forces until the last active front line examples were retired by the Bolivian Air Force in 1994.
In 1954, Pakistan began receiving the first of a total of 120 F-86F Sabres. Many of these aircraft were the F-86F-35 from USAF stocks, but some were from the later F-86F-40-NA production block, made specifically for export. Many of the -35s were brought up to -40 standards before they were delivered to Pakistan, but a few remained as series -35s. The F-86Fs was operated by nine Pakistan Air Force squadrons at various times: Nos. 5, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 26 Squadron.
Sabres were armed with 6 × 0.50 in (12.7mm) M2 Browning machine guns and could also carry a variety of rocket launchers; e.g: 2 × Matra rocket pods with 18× SNEB 68 mm rockets each or
2× AIM-9 Sidewinders or 2,400 kg
of payload on four external hard points.
(bombs, drop tanks, napalm.)
During the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 the F-86 became the mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force. The Canadair Mark-6 Sabres (quantity 90), acquired from ex-Luftwaffe stocks via Iran, were the once again the mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force's day fighter operations during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.
Pakistan slowly phased out its F-86 Sabres and replaced them with Chinese Shenyang F-6 and Dassault Aviation Mirage III/V fighters. The last of the Sabres were withdrawn from service in PAF in 1980.
F-86 Sabres nevertheless remain a legend in Pakistan and are seen as a symbol of pride for the nation. They are now displayed in Pakistan Air Force Museum and in the cities to which their pilots belonged.
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