F-86F Sabre - Mikes Bird

Here’s my second Christmas F-86F Sabre, Capt. Charles McSwain’s “Mikes Bird”, which coincidentally flew in the same squadron as my first F-86, “The Huff”: 39th FIS / 51st FIW, Suwon (K-13), South Korea.

Although I can not find anything about the history of “Mike’s Bird”, I did learn an interesting fact relating to why it and its fellow squadron aircraft wore yellow bands and had checks on their tails. 

When the Americans arrived in Korea with their F-86 Sabre it became apparent that it looked dangerously similar in flight to that the Soviet MiG-15. Therefore, the 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing (FIW) started to paint forward-slanting black-and-white stripes on their fuselages - similar to 'D-Day invasion stripes - to prevent F-86 Sabre pilots from mistaking each other for the MiGs. When in  November 1951, the 51st FIW Group transitioned to the F-86 Sabre, their commander, Lt Col George Jones, didn't want to just copy the 4th FIW stripes, so he asked Capt Ed Matczak, his group material officer and budding artist, to design something different. He came up with the rearward-slanting yellow band on the fuselage, and yellow bands on the wing and tail. Later, the wing also went on to add the black checkered markings copying the WW2 design used by 325 Fighter Group the 'Checkertails’.

In my build of “Mike’s Bird” I used Academy’s amazing 1998 moulding of their 2011 “The Huff” kit and while I used the kits “The Huff” decals on the 1:48 scale Airfix kit I shared earlier, these “Mike’s Bird” decals were gifted to me by a good friend from the original 2011 Academy kit that he had in his stash. However, while the moulding has stood the test of time the decals less so, but if you’ve been following you’ll know that I pressed on regardless!

If you were looking to build an F-86F Sabre and were undecided over whether to go 1998 Academy or 2022 Airfix, unless you wanted to show the earlier model’s extended leading edges, I’d have to recommend Academy every time. From quality of design to crisp moulding, detailing through out from interior to engine, guns to airbrakes and most surprising of all, two excellently crafted pilots!

Happy Christmas all!