F-86 Refurb thread

[David Boyd]

We did the first engine run on the Sabre since we started this project a couple of weeks ago. Thought you'd like to see some video footage of it.

http://youtu.be/rsurL3uxmYA

[Thomas Petersen]

So, David, this was in June so it should be ready for an outing to Wendover for jet blast right??!! Remember we are giving a killer deal on fuel for CJAA event attendees.

Tom

[Gennaro Avolio]

Tom,

This from an observer only not one of the involved individuals.
Unfortunately I would guess that the chances of an appearance at near zero. At this time no one can check out in the Sabre. The FAA has ruled that it is a large airplane. Large airplanes require a co-pilot. I'ts not quite a catch 22 It is just a catch. Who would ever believe we would all be living in a Kafka novel.
Gennaro

[Thomas Petersen]

Being "almost" completely ignorant here - how exactly do you then find a pilot for the F-86 once all of the current guys are unable to fly? There are no dual control F-86 Sabres (as far as I know)! Perhaps this is a case of "the man" dictating what can be flown and what can't. I guess we will have to move on to F-100s! That would be great!

It reminds me of a story told to me by a former Utah ANG pilot. He was on the ramp the day after the first F-86 was delivered. He wanted to fly it so the CO gave him the OPS manual and said read up! He spent the weekend reading and on Monday he climbed in the cockpit and flew it. Times have changed!

Tom P.

[Bob Cherry]

Congratulations on the F-86 restoration project!

I really appreciate the paint theme of the Minute Men as I grew up around the Minute Men planes as my father flew with the team. 51-2900 is especially important as Captain John Ferrier lost his life in that plane -- the only accident the team ever had.

Also of significance is that the Minute Men flew the rare GunVal variant of the F-86. There were only ten F-86F-2 Sabre Jet GunVal variants built. The status/history of all 10 is below. GunVals were modified existing F-86s and these are the planes as they originated.

F-86E-10: 51-2803, 51-2819, 51-2826, 51-2836

F-86F-1: 51-2855, 51-2861, 51-2867, 51-2868, 51-2884, 51-2900

More on the Minute Men (a work in progress) at www.TheMinuteMen.us.

I have been in contact with many aircraft historians including Duncan Curtis, Robert Dorr, Mike Randazzo, the folks at Maxwell AFB, McClellan AFB Museum, Davis-Monthan AFB, the Classic Jet organization, Sabre Pilots organization and others in search of F-86F serial number 51-2819, a GunVal modified Sabre Jet(F-86F-2). The history of this Sabre Jet is confusing and probably due to paper records dating back in the '50s.

The status sheet for this plane indicates transfer to McClellan in 1958 where its status went to Class26 W (Non-Flyable; donated to school or museum) This is the last official USAF record for the jet. Staff at McClellan prior to the base closure say this is incorrect. One security officer who worked at McClellan from 1968 until the base closed in 2001 said he never saw the jet on the base! That would indicate it disappeared shortly after its arrival -- sometime between 1958 and 1968. More weirdness. Of all the people I have contacted they all say they never saw the plane there.

GunVals were unique in that they had two cannon instead of three machine guns and thus only had two gun ports on the side. The Minute Men removed the cannon, added ballast and covered the ports on their planes.

The Minute Men just celebrated their 50th Anniversary and if you are interested, here is the F-16 that was used for exhibits and acrobatics and airshows during 2006 -- http://www.theminutemen.us/MM50F16/ A video of the original planes in flight is here: http://www.theminutemen.us/Video/MinuteMen.wmv

Here is the complete rundown for the 10 Gunvals if you're interested...

51-2803: Lost 30Apr53 over Yellow Sea after cannon firing caused engine stall. Pilot (Lonnie Moore) ejected and picked up by rescue helicopter.

51-2819: 3515 Trng Squadron at Randolph TX, to SAAMA McClellan (Sacramento Air Materiel Area) 21May57 where it was Struck off Charge (SOC) (or deleted from the Active Inventory to be slightly more accurate) on 12Jul57 to “Class26” which normally means Ground Instruction. McClellan did not have ground instruction and nobody ever saw it at the base including the head of security fro 1968 to base closing. Nothing further known on this one. There is no record of it being scrapped thus, there is no telling where this one is.

51-2826: To SAAMA McClellan (Sacramento Air Materiel Area) 31May57. To 120FIS Denver 20Feb58. To 155CLMSq Cheyenne, WY where it was SOC for reclamation & scrapping 05Nov59 HOWEVER this is still in existence at Ontario Airport in Oregon with a private owner, Merle H. Maine, ex Paris TX and Casper WY – which would tie in with it being SOC at Cheyenne. Is currently being restored and is in pretty good condition. Repainted to Korean War colors; gun ports have been restored to the nose.

51-2836: 336FIS/4FIG. Lost 20Jul53, shot down by Mig, Pilot baled out. HOWEVER there are official record cards which show ths aircraft as being with the 3320 TTAWg (Technical Training Wing I would guess), at Amarillo, TX (these days it is Sheppard AFB) where it was SOC for reclamation & scrapping 16Aug57. A bit of a problem here, perhaps the record card has an erroneous aircraft serial number. Another mystery but in either case, this one was lost or scrapped. Not available

51-2855: SAAMA McClellan. To 120FIS Denver 14Feb58. To AASBR (Arizona Aircraft Storage Branch, Now AMARC) at Davis Monthan 14Jul59 where it was SOC for reclamation & scrapping 10Mar60
51-2861: 336FIS/4FIG. Lost 25Jan53. Engine stalled after cannon firing at Mig. Pilot (Murray Winslow) ejected over sea.

51-2867: SAAMA McClellan. To 120FIS Denver 20Mar58. To AASBR (Arizona Aircraft Storage Branch, Now AMARC) at Davis Monthan 14Jul59 where it was SOC for reclamation & scrapping 10Mar60.

51-2868: SAAMA McClellan. To 120FIS Denver 10Feb58. To AASBR (Arizona Aircraft Storage Branch, Now AMARC) at Davis Monthan 14Jul59 where it was SOC for reclamation & scrapping 05Mar60. This was my dad's plane.

51-2884: 120FIS Denver. SOC 08Feb60 as Donated. To Seattle initially I believe. Nicely restored; not flyable; On display at Buckley AFB home to the Minute Men.

51-2900: SAAMA McClellan. To 120FIS Denver 22Feb58. Lost 07Jun58. Crashed at/near Wright Patterson AFB, OH during an air show killing pilot Captain John Ferrier. It was classed as SOC for reclamation & scrapping 10Aug58.

Thanks again for using the Minute Men theme!!!

Bob Cherry

[Ron Edwards]

Looks GREAT! SOUNDS Great! Can't wait to see it flying!

Ron

[David Boyd]

Bob, I'm glad you mentioned Capt. Ferrier. It was not by accident that we chose to restore this bird as -2900. As Bob and I researched the Minutemen, his heroic decision to stay with his bird at Wright-Pat that fateful day in 1958 (his 33rd birthday, I might add) struck a chord with us, hence the decision. I may have already mentioned in a previous post (I've completely lost track at this point) that I was able to track down Tulu, Capt. Ferrier's widow as well as Ellen Williams, Walt Williams' widow. They have both been wonderful at sharing their stories as well as their pictures. When I first told Tulu that we were restoring this Sabre as her late husband's bird, she cried. I was our hope to have this jet done, ready to fly, and be qualified in it (don't even get me started on the FAA and the check ride issues we are facing at the present) in time to take it to Rocky Mtn. Metro at the end of the month for the airshow there so that they, and the other remaining members of the Minutemen team could see the jet live and in Technicolor. Alas, it is not to be. The saying, "When you're 95% done you're halfway there" applies to us as well, unfortunately. But, we are still making progress and working hard to do right by Capt. Ferrier and his legacy.

[David Boyd]

I thought I would post a short narrative of the events leading up to Capt. Ferrier's crash. I hope you will agree with us that this man deserves to be remembered for the ideals he embodied:

I'M THIRD

Out of the sun, packed in a diamond formation and flying as one that day, the
Minute Men dove at nearly the speed of sound toward a tiny emerald patch
on Ohio's unwrinkled crazy quilt below. It was a little after nine on the morning
of June 7, 1958, and the destination of the Air National Guard's jet precision
team was the famed Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, just outside Dayton.

On the ground, thousands of faces looked upward as Colonel Walt Williams,
leader of the Denver-based Sabrejet team, gauged a high-speed pullout. For
the Minute Men pilots -- Colonel Williams, Captain Bob Cherry, Lieutenant
Bob Odle, Captain John Ferrier, and Major Win Coomer -- the maneuver was
routine, for they had given their show hundreds of times before millions of
people.

Low across the fresh, green grass the jet stream streaked, far ahead of the
noise of the planes' own screaming engines. Judging his pull-up, Colonel
Williams pressed the microphone button on top of his throttle: "Smoke on --
how!" The diamond of planes pulled straight up into the turquoise sky, a bush
tail of white smoke pluming out behind. The crowd gasped as the four ships
suddenly split apart, rolling to the four points of the compass and leaving a
beautiful, smoky fleur-de-lis inscribed on the heavens. This was the Minute
Men's famed "flower burst" maneuver. For a minute the crowd relaxed, gazing
at the tranquil beauty of the huge, white flower that had grown from the lush
Ohio grasslands to fill the great bowl of sky.

Out on the end of his stem of the flower, Colonel Williams turned his Sabre
hard, cut off the smoke trail, and dropped the nose of his F86 to pick up
speed for the low-altitude crossover maneuver. Then, glancing back over his
shoulder, he froze in terror. Far across the sky to the east, John Ferrier's
plane was rolling. He was in trouble. And his plane was headed right for the
small town of Fairborn, on the edge of Patterson Field. In a moment, the
lovely morning had turned to horror. Everyone saw; everyone understood.
One of the planes was out of control.

Steering his jet in the direction of the crippled plane to race after it, Williams
radioed urgently, "Bail out, John! Get out of there!" Ferrier still had plenty of
time and room to eject safely. Twice more Williams issued the command: "Bail
out, Johnny! Bail out!"
Each time, Williams was answered only by a blip of smoke.

He understood immediately. John Ferrier couldn't reach the mike button on
the throttle because both hands were tugging on a control stick locked in
full-throw right. But the smoke button was on the stick, so he was answering
the only way he could -- squeezing it to tell Walt he thought he could keep his
plane under enough control to avoid crashing into the houses of Fairborn.

Suddenly, a terrible explosion shook the earth. Then came a haunting
silence. Walt Williams continued to call through the radio, "Johnny? Are you
there? Captain, answer me!"

No response.

Major Win Coomer, who had flown with Ferrier for years, both in the Air
National Guard and with United Airlines, and who had served a combat tour
with him in Korea, was the first Minute Man to land. He raced to the crash
scene, hoping to find his friend alive.
Instead, he found a neighborhood in shock from the awful thing that had
happened. Captain John T. Ferrier's Sabrejet had hit the ground midway
between four houses, in a backyard garden. It was the only place where he
could have crashed without killing people. The explosion had knocked a
woman and several children to the ground, but no one had been hurt, with
the exception of Johnny Ferrier. He had been killed instantly.
A steady stream of people began coming to Coomer as he stood in his flying
suit beside the smoking, gaping hole in the ground where his best friend had
just died.
"A bunch of us were standing together, watching the show," as elderly man
with tears in his eyes told Coomer. "When the pilot started to roll, he was
headed straight for us. For a second, we looked right at each other. Then he
pulled up right over us and put it in there."

In deep humility, the old man whispered, "This man died for us."

A few days after this tragic accident, John Ferrier's wife, Tulu, found a worn
card in his billfold. On it were the words "I'm Third." That simple phrase
exemplified the life -- and death -- of this courageous man. For him, God
came first, others second, and himself third.

True to his philosophy, John Ferrier sacrificed his life for people he had never
met.

[Bob Cherry]

A big THANK YOU for your narrative, David. I've heard the story many times and this is truely an honorable tribute to a great pilot. THANK YOU again!

Bob Cherry

[David Boyd]

I would love to lay claim as it's author, but I can't. I found it online a while ago, and saved a copy of it. It's the best version I've found yet of the story. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Bob.