{"id":59343,"date":"2025-04-20T22:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T20:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=59343"},"modified":"2026-04-20T00:17:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T22:17:59","slug":"the-f-86-sabre-the-first-and-most-numerous-jet-fighter-of-the-spanish-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2025\/04\/20\/the-f-86-sabre-the-first-and-most-numerous-jet-fighter-of-the-spanish-air-force\/","title":{"rendered":"The F-86 Sabre, the first and most numerous jet fighter of the Spanish Air Force"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On October 1, 1947, two years after the end of World War II, a memorable aircraft made its first flight.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2020\/10\/05\/ascua-the-story-of-the-first-official-aerobatic-patrol-of-the-spanish-air-force\/\">Ascua: the story of the first official aerobatic patrol of the Spanish Air Force<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/01\/19\/the-f-86h-saber-fighter-of-the-us-air-force-national-museum-showing-its-entire-interior\/\">The F-86H Saber fighter of the US Air Force National Museum showing its entire interior<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><strong>The North American F-86 Sabre was a single-engine jet fighter with the nose intake<\/strong>, like many fighters of its time. 9,860 units were built. <strong>Spain received 270 F-86Fs between 1955 and 1958<\/strong>, making it the Spanish Air Force's first and most numerous jet fighter, as well as its first jet aerobatic aircraft with <a href=\"ttps:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2020\/10\/05\/ascua-the-story-of-the-first-official-aerobatic-patrol-of-the-spanish-air-force\/\">the famous Patrulla Ascua<\/a>. This Saturday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@flybywire-aviation\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fly By Wire Aviation<\/a> <strong>published a video showing color images of the Spanish F-86Fs:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WP-rTlRag7U?si=PyYC8pR3tWnYo1kd\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Sabre became famous in the Korean War (1950-1953)<\/strong>, where it faced off against Soviet-made MiG-15 jet fighters. It should be noted that the F-86 was not designed to be supersonic, but <strong>it was the first fighter with which Spanish pilots occasionally broke the sound barrier<\/strong>, probably in dive flights.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54464249474_212b655460_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54464249474_9272b2aafe_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">Two Spanish F-86s from the 6th Fighter Wing, based in Torrej\u00f3n (Madrid), with their external fuel tanks painted orange. The aircraft in the photo are C.5-262 6-262, left, and C.5-250 6-250 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EjercitoAire\/status\/1381273529333727233\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ej\u00e9rcito del Aire<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>The F-86 was armed with six 12.7 mm (.50 in) M-3 Browning machine guns<\/strong> mounted on either side of the aircraft's nose, three on each side. <strong>It also had four underwing slings capable of carrying external fuel tanks, bombs, rocket launchers, and short-range air-to-air missiles<\/strong> AIM-9B Sidewinder.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54464314163_8a348d712f_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54464314163_541ebb2e4b_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">A row of F-86s from the 201st Squadron, radio call sign \"Puma,\" based in Torrej\u00f3n. Next to the first aircraft, we see a Seat 600 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EjercitoAire\/status\/1381273529333727233\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ej\u00e9rcito del Aire<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>Initially, the Spanish F-86s were structured into six fighter wings<\/strong> that had different colored stripes on the nose of their aircraft: <strong>Fighter Wing No. 1<\/strong> (Manises, Valencia, blue), <strong>Fighter Wing No. 2<\/strong> (Zaragoza, black), <strong>Fighter Wing No. 4<\/strong> (Palma de Mallorca, green), <strong>Fighter Wing No. 5<\/strong> (Mor\u00f3n, orange) and <strong>Fighter Wing No. 6<\/strong> (Torrej\u00f3n, white).<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54464432695_1559376b6b_z.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54464432695_4f4dc53128_o.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">The F-86F C.5-58 102-4, on display in Hangar 5 of the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum, Madrid (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/ejercitodelaireydelespacio.defensa.gob.es\/EA\/museodelaire\/hangar5.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Museo del Aire y del Espacio<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>The Spanish F-86s were already obsolete by the early 1970s<\/strong>, when their replacements began to arrive in Spain: the French Dassault Mirage III (1970, 30 fighters) and the American McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II (1971, 40 fighters in total). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/museodelaireydelespacio\/photos\/\u00faltimo-vuelo-de-un-north-american-f-86-del-ej\u00e9rcito-del-aire-el-7-de-diciembre-d\/1005862131579195\/?_rdr\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The F-86 left the Spanish Air Force on December 7, 1972<\/a>, with the C.5-70 making its last flight. This aircraft is preserved today at the Zaragoza Air Base as a memorial. All remaining aircraft were decommissioned in 1973.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5106\/5643356667_f0aabc8a1a_o.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5106\/5643356667_441771e274_c.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">The F-86F Sabre C.5-175 1-175, preserved outside the Cuatro Vientos Air Museum in Madrid (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/elentir\/5643356667\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elentir<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>Two F-86s are on display at the Madrid Air Museum:<\/strong> C.5-58 102-4, displayed in Hangar 5 and preserved with the emblems of Squadron 102 of Torrej\u00f3n, and C.5-175 1-175, in the exterior area F, next to Hangar 3, preserved with the colors of the Patrulla Ascua. <strong>In Spain, F-86s are also on display in other places as monuments:<\/strong> at the Basic Air Academy (ABA) in Le\u00f3n, in Mor\u00f3n de la Frontera (Huelva) and in the Parque del Oeste in Valencia. Furthermore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2009\/08\/23\/curioso-destino-para-un-f-86-sabre\/\">in Bayonne (Pontevedra) there is a monument with the wing of an F-86<\/a>, in the roundabout of the parish of Sabar\u00eds that bears the name of Air General Jos\u00e9 Santos Peralba, a native of there and one of the pioneers of jet aviation in Spain.<\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Main photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/elentir\/5643930086\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Elentir<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 1, 1947, two years after the end of World War II, a memorable aircraft made its first flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,11549],"tags":[3538,14312,11462,11875],"class_list":["post-59343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-military-history","tag-north-american-f-86-sabre","tag-patrulla-ascua","tag-spain","tag-spanish-air-force"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-12 07:11:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}