REQUEST : Elusive F-86

[Speke-EZY]

Hi everyone,

Back in October 1984 I logged a pair of F-86 Sabres at Luke AFB in Arizona. They were flown at the time by Flight Systems Inc as manned target tugs for gunnery training with the based USAF units.

The aircraft in question on 04/10/84 were N82FS and N84FS.

The former has given me no trouble and is well documented.

I have never traced an identity for N84FS. There is always the outside chance of this being a mispole but I do suspect that discounting it as such would be the easy option.

Does anyone have a c/n,USAF FY-serial,eventual fate for this Sabre please?

[gwoof]

I visited Mojave in 1981 and 1983 but didn't record either of these two. The others in the N8xFS batch I did see all seemed to come from a batch of ex Canadian F-86Es.

Don't know if this will help you narrow it down at all!!

Ian

[Speke-EZY]

Hi Ian,

I think if no record has emerged for N84FS after all this time,it is probably a case of not so much an actual misreading of the number,but more likely a corruption of it enroute from brain to logbook. In those long-lost days it was possible to get through a month's worth of spotting at today's rate in one afternoon. There may have been the odd hasty mistake,hopefully all eliminated by careful subsequent research.

Thank you for your reply and best wishes,Keith

[gwoof]

Keith

I haven't done numbers for a few years now but still occasionally come across new info that fills gaps from a long time ago!

In checking your Sabre I discovered a couple of additional pieces of info for my own database ;D

Ian

[Deleted]

Keith,

Was it an airshow you were at? If so the reg could well be correct but type of a/c wrong. I came across this for a Pitts special. Looks to have been registered in 1968 as N84FS and if the article is right, remained so until it's transfer to the New Zealand register in February 1992.

nzcivair.blogspot.com/2010/05/pitts-s-2a-zk-jag.html

Hope this helps.

Steve.

[Speke-EZY]

Hi Ian and Steve,

It was just an ordinary (very!) active flying day at Luke. In the unlikely event of a Pitts Special straying into the area,I think the F-15 jockeys would have had some fun with it! I've since seen the marks N84FS re-used on something obscure which I can't remember the name of now. This must have been involved in an accident of some kind as it was the subject of an NTSB enquiry. All very interesting but no suggestion the reg was ever used by an F-86. Put this one down as "unsolved" I think!

Many thanks for your help and ideas guys.

Best wishes,Keith

[Deleted]

Sept 9, 2011 10:14:56 GMT 1 Speke-EZY said:

I've since seen the marks N84FS re-used on something obscure which I can't remember the name of now. This must have been involved in an accident of some kind as it was the subject of an NTSB enquiry.

For the record it was a Flight Design CTSW that crashed 26.07.05 at Rogersville, TN.

Think that the Sabre must have been a mis-pole.

For reference, quite a few of the N8xFS series were ex WGAF machines.

An active day at Luke brings back some memories, last time we were there the F-16s were active but a line of "Beale Bomber" Talons went begging

GC

[Speke-EZY]

Hi GC,

Thanks for the input. Happy times indeed...and we didn't even feel the effects of it the next day! :-)

[john1958]

I first visited Mojave in 1997 and logged 3 N**FS F86's, 80,86,89 were the machines. I can't find any record for your machine sorry.

Also visited Luke on this tour, had already made contact with the base, and got a yes! Was directed away from the main gate to another gate down the road, VERY easy access, I'm sure it wouldnt be anywhere near as easy nowadays, parked my car there and was driven into the base to an ops building, where my guide then loaded us into a golf buggy and said where do you want to go, "everywhere" was my reply so off we went!!!!! We weren't allowed into any hangers, but he happily drove close to them slowly for me, especially the hanger the Chinese F-16's were in, then onto the flightline, slightly uneasy moment when we were stopped by USAF security as they weren't aware of our visit, but then we were allowed to continue. Up and down the lines of F-16's with me shouting stop when I wanted to get a shot of anything......and frantically trying to get everything logged at the same time!!! And this was before they put up those horrible sunshade things too!!!
Eventually off the base with 220 aircraft in the log.............those were the days!!!!!!

John