F-86 Sabre

This was a project I did over my Christmas break for TSgt Walt Farwell at Whiteman AFB. He wanted this to give to a Korean War Vet and retired Air Force Lt Col with some serious health problems who was going to be touring the base. On such short notice, I pulled out all stops to get this done by the December 28th deadline. I started this a few days before Christmas and finished it December 27th giving Walt enough time to get the Audio Visual department at Whiteman to make a nice print for the Lt Col. Walt said that the Lt Col loved it and it brought tears to his eyes! It doesn't get any better than that! BTW, the plane was named for the Lt Col's late wife.

Now for some details about the F-86... the North American F-86 Sabre Jet was the Air Force's first swept wing jet fighter. The F-86 made it's first flight tests in October of of 1947! The first production models were delivered to the Air Force in May 1948. In September of 1948, an F-86A set the world speed record with a top speed of 670.9 mph! Later models would even exceed that, eventually the Sabre would top out at 685 mph! The F-86 saw extensive use during the Korean War where they racked up an impressive record against what many historians believe was a superior Russian built MiG-15. 792 MiG-15's were shot down compared to only 76 Sabres being shot down. There were a lot of factors that accounted for the disproportionate 10 to 1 numbers, mostly inexperienced North Korean and Chinese pilots going up against seasoned WWII veteran pilots of the USAF. Against more experienced Russian pilots the odds were a little more evenly matched, but still the Sabre proved to be an excellent jet in the hands of an experienced pilot. More than 5,500 F-86 Sabres were built before production ended and they served as front line fighters for 20 different nations. Pakistan's Air Force added to the Sabre Jet's already legendary prowess in their war with India in 1965. Squadron Leader Mohammed Alam became an ACE in less than an hour shooting down 5 Indian Hunter Jets! Alam had a total of 9 kills before hostilities ended!

The F-86 in my illustration is sporting the colors of the 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, 5th Air Force, Far East Air Force. The 51st operated first out of bases in Japan and later from bases in Korea. The 51st was led by the legendary WWII Ace Lt Col Frances "Gabby" Gabreski from Oil City Pennsylvania. Gabreski had 28 confirmed kills flying the P-47 Thunderbolt in Europe before being shot down and taken prisoner. Gabreski end the war a POW as well as being America's top P-47 Ace in the ETO during WWII. He went on to add 6.5 more kills in Korea!

Adobe Illustrator 8.0. Apple G4 Power Mac, OS 9.2.