DOGSHIP: Why Have We Forgotten The Most Common Interceptor Of The Cold War?

The most numerous all-weather interceptor of the Cold War is not the Deuce. It isn't the Voodoo, Flagon, Fishpot, Foxbat or Scorpion. It most certainly isn't the Ultimate Interceptor. No, the anchor of North American Air Defence in the 1950s was the F-86D Sabre Dog.

2500 Dogships were built in the early 1950s. It was a lightning fast, rocket armed single seat fighter that set speed records and sold a lot of Plymouths in its day. A quarter of all F-86 Sabres were actually Dogs. It was the second most numerous variant of that famous fighter and yet today it is generally just a footnote in the story.

In this video I take a long look at the Sabre Dog, try to uncover at least some of its mysteries and tell the tragic story of its only kill.

I hope you enjoy this episode. It is probably the most requested subject on the channel to date and I've tried to do it justice. Any comments and further information about the Sabre Dog would be much appreciated. I've been surprised by how little is out there.

Notes:

First big point is that I've deliberately confined this video to the 'D' and 'L' models of Sabre in US service. I'll cover cannon-armed Sabres in another video at some point

Sources:

[Bbutler]

Nice video. Thanks. My dad flew p-47’s in WWII then F-86’s in Korea. After Korea, the units were transitioned to the F-86D and sent to Japan. I grew up in Chitose AFB watching the Dogs fly almost every day. My dad didn’t talk much about the aircraft except to say that most aircraft he had flown in his career had a complete multi-step checklist for engine fires. The F-86D engine fire check list simply said “eject, eject, eject”.

[lycossurfer]

I never realized how different the D model was from the rest. Sort of like a Hornet and Super Hornet; similar shape but really a different aircraft.

[sithlord]

I'm from Venezuela, and here in the late 50s or early 60s we got a full fleet of like 50+ F-86K Sabre dogs, ex-Lufftwaffe aircraft, and they were one of the very first radar capable machines in the country, but the fleet was so bad that there were many accidents and mishaps, and so many remained after they were replaced by the F-5 in the early 70s, that they're all around the country as static monuments, rumor has it that somewhere at Libertador Air Base, the country's main AB, there are some storaged in crates that were never built and are hidden and waiting to be assembled some day

[garylawson]

My mother's first husband (my older sisters Dad), flew and lost his life in the F86 Saber D. His name and rank was 1st Lt Alan R. Kauffman. He was with the 357th Interceptor Fighter Squadron stationed in Morocco in 1959.
While flying in a night training mission, his aircraft was the "target" aircraft. One of his last transmissions was that he was having trouble with his avionics before hitting the ground.
If this channel or anyone who has any useful input on my comment, I will gladly relay them to my sisters.
By the way, to the channel I thank you for sharing this video.

[briankay]

"Watch for chutes, you got the wrong plane " genuinely caused me to intake breathe sharply 😢

[wilsonle]

My Father worked on the Dogs in Japan in the mid-1950s). Lots of great stories! He was an aviation Fire Control Technician in the USAF. I joined the Navy in 79 as a Surface Ship Fire Control Technician, and my son served in the USN as a Submarine Fire Control Technician. In three generations we covered the Air, Surface, and Sub-surface Fire Control Mission! I retired from the Army National Guard as a Major in the Field Artillery so you could say we had Air Land and Sea covered!

[chadrowe]

Good storytelling. A b17 with it's wing ripped off. I'm thinking it worked. And then "watch for chutes, you got the wrong plane". That broke my heart and ripped my guts out. I gave a 👍

[michaelhorning]

There is an F-86D on display at the entrance to the municipal airport in Iowa City, Iowa. It is affectionately known to longtime residents as Old Jet. In the 1970s some geniuses in a community beautification group called Project Green had the jet hauled away as scrap. This led to a huge outcry from many. Not to mention the rude awakening the imbeciles received when the Air Force learned of the action. You see, the USAF still owns these old monuments. Old Jet was soon restored and it's still there today.

[JazzBuff]

In 1957 and 58 I was an Intercept Tech Controller and the Dog's, with all their limitations, was my favorite interceptor of the time. We ran ninety degree beam intercepts with three in a flight flying in trail five miles each. It was good enough for one pass at a B-47 and B-52, , and we had fun with the B-36's when I arrived at Ellsworth in 1955. They really struglled getting over 40 angels.
Ninety degree beam intercepts required the GCI controller to have calculated a firing angle so he could set up the intercept way in advance of the final ninety degree heading.
The 740th AC&W squadron, Charlie Crew did have the honor of guiding the 54th FIS Dogs against General Crabb in a new F-102 and during an ORI. We got three splashes. He was the new ADC commander. We scrambled one and 13 got airborne without our knowledge, then the ORI team showed up.
He got on the channel a yelled BULLSHIT, I'm landing at Ellsworth and I want to see the camera film and I want everyone involved there. Wonderful days.

[rooster]

In 1961 18 F-86Ds became the Philippine Air Force’s first all-weather interceptors. They were assigned to the 5th Fighter Wing’s 8th “Vampire” Interceptor Squadron.

[JasperFromMS]

My dad was at Eglin AFB when this happened or shortly thereafter on his way to Korea. I remember him telling me about it when I was a kid. He was in no way involved in the test, but the tragedy obviously made an impression on everyone.

[robertszerlong]

From 1960 to 1963, I was in ADC, stationed at Hancock Field, Syracuse, NY as a member of the Syracuse Air Defense Sector SAGE. The PA. ANG out of Pittsburg IAP were assigned to our sector, call sign NP (November Popa), flying F-86L's. In the summer of1961 or 1962, they deployed up to Handcock Field for their two-week annual training with the intent of running some air-to-air intercepts over Lake Ontario. On one such mission we sent a T-33 to tow a radar reflecting target drone along the south shore of the lake, traveling west to east from Buffalo, NY. The SAGE controller directed the F-86 to within 15 miles of the target where the pilot called radar contact; fire a salvo of inert missiles and hitting the T-33 rather than the target drone. The T-33 made it back to base full of holes and without its canopy.

[brianrmc]

You always provide detail and scale of stories that no one else does. Thank you.
I accumulate 2165 hours in legacy Hornets. We regularly practice forward-quarter gunnery against a tiny banner. I never knew a squadron’s gun to fail. I would be much more comfortable shooting a bombers in the face than hitting him with unguided Zunis.

[tomthumb]

LOL first book I read for pleasure was on the F-86D flight control systems. My father was with the 134 IS in Vermont in the 50's. Have a box with all the manuals someplace around here. Read them all complete with foldout color coded diagrams. He was a crew chief back then went on to the B-36 and others have those manual too.

Ahhh the memories built 10 or so models of the "Sabre Dog"...

[williamfabbri]

You are spot on in recognizing the odd gap in coverage of the the history air defense regarding the F-86D. It was not only numerically significant but the story is instructive of the long term cost of early production of new technology. You are doing a fine job, please continue your excellent series.

[ibluap]

The sabredog was an iconic image from my childhood. I had an special sympathy for it. I wished I had a model of it in my collection; unfortunately there was never one! IN those innocent days, I used to believe it was named "Sabredog" because of its long snout that resembled the one of a dog... I never imagined it was due to the "D" suffix of its model number.

[gort]

A lead collision pursuit curve is not designed to provide a head-on attack. It provides a quicker intercept than a pure pursuit curve in which the interceptor just points at the target. The aspect of the final engagement depends upon the relative positions of the interceptor and target when the intercept is initiated, as well as any maneuvering by the target.

[jb]

My father had been a P-51 Mustang pilot in Europe during WWII. He transitioned to Lockheed P-80As at Williams Army Air Field, Arizona in 1947. In December of 1952 he graduated from F-86D school at Tyndall AFB, Florida. The F-86Ds he flew were very early -1 and -5 models. As you pointed out, the F-86D program was a mess, so from there dad was then sent to the 40th Fighter Squadron/35th Fighter Wing at Johnson Air Station, Japan (which was scheduled to receive F-86Ds) only to fly F-80Cs again for another year, thus making the 40th Fighter Squadron the very last active duty F-80 unit. In 1954 the squadron received hand me down F-86E models from squadrons in Korea that had received new F-86F models, and he didn't fly the F-86D again until 1955, just before he transferred back to the US to fly F-86Fs and F-100s in Indiana.. 40th Fighter Squadron F86Ds are pictured in this video at 15:50 and again later flying formation with a Japanese F-86F. To my mind, the cannon armed F-86K was a much better fighter for areas that had to contend with not only enemy bombers but also enemy fighters, since the F-86D would likely be almost useless in a dog fight. Ironically, 70 years later, they now make an infra-red guided 2.75 folding fin rocket. Something like that would've made the F-86D totally awesome! As an aside, the first 150 of what we now know as Lockheed T-33s were built and designated as TF-80C transition trainers and armed with two .50 cal machine guns (as were all the T-33A-1 models). Dad always loved flying the T-33s, because to him it was a 2 seat F-80. Thank you, for a most EXCELLENT video and the trip down memory lane!

[dwhollrah]

My uncle and Dad flew f86ds post Korea in the states. Dad even crashed one on takeoff out of Chicago. His squad commander chopped him out w a fire axe. We still have photos and film of his time in service. Many uncertified maneuvers were mentioned...like "strafing" ski resorts is Wisc. and buzzing his home town in Iowa. Both men are gone now.

[MAACotton]

Post WWII aviation is wild. I'm only now learning about it thanks to fantastic channels like this.