F-86E (#50-12980) & F-86A (#49-1287) Sabre Crash Site

April 1st 2020





Summery :

 The North American F-86 is transonic jet fighter-bomber for U.S.Air Force.

These F-86A #49-1287 and F-86E #51-12980 were both belonged to 3595th Combat Crew Training Wing at Nellis AFB.

On July 7th 1953 the F-86A #49-1287 flown by an instructor and the F-86E #51-12980 flown by a student were involved in a mid-air collision during gunnery practice near Nellis Air Force Range.
The instructor was killed in the accident while the student was able to parachute to safety.


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This was my 2nd visit to this site.
On my last visit, I ran out of time and couldn't search a wide area.
Those wreckages were spread over the wide-area on both sides of the steep hill.
The largest wreck was 980's tail part and it has 'U.S.AIR FORCE 112980 FU-980' paint on it.
Since F-86 'E' model was upgraded from 'A' model, I could use only upgraded parts prefix number (170, 172, 176) to identify the parts.
Unfortunately, I could find only 4 parts which were prefix 170, 172 or 176 out of hundreds of wrecks.
I accidentally found another F-86's engine (prefix 151) about 1 mile from the site.
The 980's engine was found near the tail section, so this is probably the 287's engine.


    
Description



Manufacturer:
North American
Base model:
F-86
Version:
A (#49-1287) & E (#51-12980)
Nickname:
Sabre
Designation System:
U.S. Air Force
Designation Period:
1949-1970 (USAF)
Basic role:
Fighter
Serial Number:
49-1287 & 51-12980
Crash Date:
1953/7/7
Cause of Crash:
Mid-Air collision
Fatalities:
1




Specifications



Length:
37' 1" 11.40 m
Height:
14' 1" 4.50 m
Wingspan:
37' 0" 11.30 m
Wingarea:
313.4 sq ft 29.11 sq m
Empty Weight:
11,125 lb 5,046 kg
Max Takeoff Weight:
18,152 lb 8,234 kg





Propulsion



No. of Engines:
1
Powerplant:
General Electric J47-GE-27 turbojet
Thrust:
5,910 lbf





Performance



Max Speed:
687 mph 1,106 km/h 597 kt
Ceiling:
49,600 ft 15,118 m
Range:
1,525 miles 2,454 km





Unit Cost:
$219,457


    
Other F-86 Link :
 Wikipedia Link : Northrop F-86
    



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