Fighter Jet Fixer Upper: Canadair F-86 Sabre Mk. 6
We write about a lot of unusual forms of transportation here at Barn Finds. As one of the staff writers, I have completed write-ups on motorcycles, trains, boats, and, of course, about every type of car ever produced. However, this is my first fighter jet write-up. This Canadair F-86 Sabre Mk. 6 is a licensed version of North American Aviation’s famous F-86 and it is currently sitting on a runway in Nevada waiting for a buyer. The seller tells us it is just a turbine blade repair and some miscellaneous work away from soaring through the skies once again. While this warbird likely won’t fit in your garage, and taxiing down your street for a test flight is bound to get the neighborhood busybodies on the Nextdoor app in a royal tizz, who wouldn’t want an F-86 Sabre to play with?
The Sabre’s story started in the heady days following World War II. At the tail end of the war, the Germans managed to field a jet-powered fighter called the Me 262. While jet-powered aircraft were in development in other countries during that time, the Germans managed to field a considerable number of these revolutionary planes. Like most other revolutionary weapons, the Me 262 had weaknesses that still made it vulnerable to enemy fighters despite its superior straight-line speed. When the war ended, it wasn’t long before every major power began fielding jet-powered fighters. The learning curve was steep. However, development moved at a tremendous pace.
The uneasy peace following World War II was shattered when hostilities commenced on the Korean Peninsula on June 25, 1950. The attack by the North Koreans caught America and its allies by surprise. What followed was a nasty war that stretched for three years and was, in part, a proving ground for advanced weapons. The Soviet Union provided MiG-15 fighter jets to the North Koreans. Many of these planes were flown by Soviet pilots. With the Allied forces mainly fighting with World War II fighters such as P-51s and Corsairs at the start of the war, with a few early jet fighters such as the F-80 and F-84 thrown in, the MiGs ruled the skies with impunity and were primarily used with great effect against B-29 bombers. In response, pressure was applied to North American Aviation to get the new F-86 Sabre to the front lines as quickly as possible.
That pressure helped regain control over the skies of the Korean Peninsula, but the MiG was still a force to be reckoned with until hostilities ceased on July 27, 1953. The Sabre was a good design produced in large numbers by North American Aviation and the design was also licensed out to Canadair. Our neighbors to the north continually improved the Sabre’s design until production ended for them in 1958. Amazingly, versions of the Sabre were used by Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 and gradually phased out after that. Not a bad record for a plane that wasn’t capable of supersonic flight in a quickly changing aviation environment where speed was king.
The plane you see here is a Mk. 6 version of the Canadair Sabre. These are considered to be the most capable variant of the Sabre, as they were built with larger wings to help with maneuverability and the Canadian-built jet engines were more powerful than the original GE powerplants. For all of the awesomeness of having a fighter jet for sale on Facebook Marketplace, the seller leaves us just a few nuggets about the plane and its condition. We are told that it is a complete aircraft that will come with many spare parts. It is not currently flightworthy due to a turbine blade that will require replacement and a few other issues to address. We are assured that it could fly again with a little work.
While it was somewhat common for surplus World War II piston engine aircraft to be sold to the public after World War II, the rise of the jet age saw that policy disappear. There are jet-engine military aircraft out there for sale, nearly all of them are repatriated from other countries, or the products of our former enemies. Owning such a beast is quite a step above owning a Piper Cub or a Cessna 152. The selling price, which is suspiciously low in comparison to other aircraft of its type, is just the beginning of the new owner’s financial burden. Keeping one in fuel can be measured in thousands of dollars per flight. The maintenance and parts bills are also above the abilities of mere mortals. Still, we see planes such as this at Oshkosh and air shows across the country. If you have the means, they are probably one of the most fun ways to burn cash known to man. Hopefully, this one finds a rich benefactor soon. It would be awesome to see a low, fast pass by such a machine.
If you want something a bit different to arrive at the next fly-in breakfast at your local municipal airport, then this Canadair F-86 Sabre Mk. 6 for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Carson City, Nevada may be just the ticket. Currently needing a turbine blade and some work here and there, this amazing aircraft is being offered at $125,000.
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Comments
Not surprised he’s got it up for sale-amongst other things the hangar rental just jumped tremendously after the airport got money and permits to extend runways etc for business jet traffic.
FWIW, until recently this airport had a larger collection of Grumman HU-16 Albatross tied down there than any branch of the U.S. military had in their inventories. As well you’ll find a some OV-10’s, a B26 or two, a T28, a Cobra gunship to name just few and on occasion the Marines or Navy come by to practice with their troops.
The guy that has this is good people, It’s a shame to see that this and his other cool machines may not be around here anymore.
Go figure this comes out right after I just bought one great
I’m glad the Thumbs Up is working for this post – LOL!
These are so loud. Awesome beasts 😎
Glad it’s working for you; it’s not working for me—yet!
geomechs, It’s not working for me, again. However, I could visit this post another time and it will be working.
This will be a tough problem for them to figure out.
Thumbs Down to this problem.
Same here – after buying that SR71,I my Wife
informed me that I can’t buy any more jets.
This might look great on my front lawn.
Wrong color for me…
Not accepting low bids. He knows what he’s got.
And no tattoos.
Just needs turbine blade is the aircraft equivalent to air conditioning needs a recharge!
How come nobody else had suggested putting in a 350 Chev motor? I dare say one could fit three or four in that tube. I do like the “turbine blade and a few other issues “ statement, I think the biggest issue is the cost! Cut off the wings just short of the landing gear and get those 350 Chev motors ticking over and what a great highway cruiser you would have.
I bet with an LS conversion this could really fly! 🤣
The F-86 is, in my opinion, the prettiest fighter jet ever. It would be great to have the resources to fix it up and support it. Unfortunately, it would be easier to cash out of your 401(k) and light all the money on fire.
Cool fine! Even better than the Stegosaurus skeleton a few days ago.
As for the plane, I’ve liked these since
I was a kid. Always wanted to be Robert Mitchum or Robert Wagner
because they flew them in the Fox film The Hunters that came out in 1958. Good film if you can find it.
Might be a bit fuzzy on this, but I think
the Canadians got smart and replaced the .50 cals with 20 mm
cannons on their model. I’m really
surprised that no one’s bought this
thing and turned it into an air racer.
It sure would be a deusy!
Remove the wings, a roll cage and little bit of redesign this would make a great LSR Lakester at Bonneville and the dry lakes.
At almost 70, I have very few regrets in life, I did everything I wanted to do, except learn to fly. While I never had the guts to join the military, flying one of these was not what I had in mind. I want to commend the author for a history lesson that should never be forgotten. It can’t be said enough, we were this close( finger and thumb 1/8th inch apart) from a major setback. If the Germans had perfected the jet fighter, it may have had a drastic effect on the outcome. The real hero there was Werner Von Braun. While the Korean War may have been a proving ground, it did take 2.5 million lives, ( 36,000 Americans) and for what? I live about 50 miles( as the Sabre flys) from Colorado Springs, home of AF base Ft. Carson. Every once in a while, I’ll hear “maneuvers”, you won’t see them, but the sound is the sound of freedom to me. I have no idea who would want this, except, it SHOULD be on a pike outside a VFW post, if any interest remain, that is.
A rest area in N.Wis. just outside of Hurley, Wis. had a display of a tank and a Cobra chopper, as a tribute to the Vietnam vets. Been there for years. On my visit last summer, I stopped at the rest area, the displays were gone! I read, the county said, they needed restoration, and the display was moved to the downtown Hurley court house. WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO SEE IT THERE????Sorry, that really ground my gears, interest is clearly fading. Not sure an old fighter jet would fix that.
A beautiful aircraft that followed the ideal of form follows function. It was my dream aircraft as a kid and is one of the best looking jets ever.
I think the seller might be misstating the skill and expertise required to put this back in the air by just a teensy bit. There is really no such thing as “just” a turbine blade as they do not often fail and a FOD damaging one would usually involve a lot more damage. And there is a ton of other airworthy issues that would need to be addressed before flight. Is it possible? Sure, time and money can solve any problem.
I believe this type of aircraft requires a LOA to pilot, and that isn’t so easy to come by. Additionally I believe F-86’s are registered under Airshow/Exhibition, which is VERY restrictive on where and how they are flown.
For a small fraction of a P-51 you could definitely have the coolest airplane on the ramp, but you better know what you are getting into.
Age precludes any sort of fantasy ownership of this, but 15 years ago I would at least have taken a look.
But Tom Cruise might take a crack at this to add to his hangar!!!
Everyone should read the story of pilot Robbie Risner who used his Sabre to push his wingman’s crippled jet 60 miles out of enemy territory during Korea. He got him over water so he could eject for a sea rescue. Sadly the wingman was not recovered.
Yes that is a hellava story …..
I refueled aircraft at Indianapolis INTL airport for a sneeze before leaving to work for Cessna as my first engineering job.
During that stint on the ramp in Indy I was asked by an older gentleman to go down to the end of our building and open the hangar doors so he could get an airplane out.
When I opened the doors I was looking at a T-6, P-51, F-86, and a Cessna citation.
The owner was Tom Wood. When I asked him about the F-86 he said he flew it at air shows with another guy who had a MIG-15. He also told me that it had a fuel mixing unit internally to mix high octain Avgas in one bullet tank with regular Jet A fuel in the other tanks to make it run.
Later on working for Cessna in Wichita I saw Tom Wood drop in flying his P-51 to check on the progress of his new citation biz jet coming down the line.
Cool guy with an impressive stable of flying toys. But I’ll never forget seeing that polished F-86 sitting in his hangar in Indy. It was stunning.
Nos turbine blades for 13 bucks on eBay. Installation extra, a lot extra!
I became an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force for 4 years (1967-1971) after watching movies with these planes. I loved working on them all and became a crew chief and then flight mechanic.
Jay is correct, you don’t just slap a turbine blade in you will have to do a complete overhaul, re-balance on the front fan. The chances of fod damage to the rest of the rotating group is huge, mo money! All done at a certified repair shop.
John Travolta lives less than 10 miles from me. I’d love to see him get this, restore it, and fly it all over Ocala. It would look great parked next to his 747 at his Jumbolair Estate home. (Google Earth it.)
He does NOT have a 747.
Here’s a shot of his estate from Google Earth.
My mistake. I typed in “747”, I meant “707”. Though he IS licensed for 747’s. I’ll ask him about it next time I have pizza with him.
I think Travolta’s plane is a 707 not 747.
It’s a 707 in Qantas livery
We hear and see the F – 35’s out of Like AFB Mon.to Fri. That being said my late Uncle,Silver star winner in Korea 50- 53 as a 18 yr.old.He stayed in the Army for 21 years retiring as a Mst. Sgt.In 1971 reported to Vietnam, pregnant wife and 3 kids already.
I believe that’s LUKE AFB in Arizona
Yes….a typo.
We regularly hear the F-35s taking target practice at Ft. Huachucha in Sierra Vista, AZ. I had assumed they were from from Davis-Monthan AFB but they could easily be from Luke AFB. Pretty noisy. Much louder than the F-16s they replaced
Your are correct, those F- 35’s are way louder than the F- 16’s.I remember when Luke AFB switched over to them.
”Honey, remember I promised you I wouldn’t bid on another car? Well…”
”The seller tells us it is just a turbine blade repair and some miscellaneous work away from soaring through the skies once again.”
And if the seller is wrong?
Well, miscellamepis work covers a lot of ground. This looks like the one Michael Dorn owned.
The funeral announcement will follow.
I am seldom at a loss for words on this site, but the only thing I can come up with is “wow!”
Cletus McFarland (youtube) just bought an old biz jet (stored indoors) for $15K. Recent episode said the cost to make it flyable was $2.5M – not that he really had any intention to do so, but he did want to know how much it would cost. (I hope he tries to start it up before he sticks it on a pole outside the “Freedom Factory”)
@Algonquin, did he ever post a video of what the restoration of his Bell helicopter cost? What was supposed to be another cheap fixer upper.
He didn’t say if the IMS had been replaced.
Drive in and fly home.
I love this airplane for lots of reasons and most of them were in the readers comments. Some of the best posts, I have seen on B/F. In Vietnam our squadron was flying F-100’s. They were the go to airplanes after the F-86 and in 1968-9 they were almost antiques. I always thought the F-86 looked cooler, but of course the F-100 was an improvement.
Too cool
Are the nose cannons and eject. seat still functional ?
Anyone remember the ’60s model kit of this plane? You could add pieces and part to make a couple of different planes.
I had a kit where you could add battle damage
Had acouple flights in a NA model in ’57 before the base in France closed. Off to F-100s. Both fun to fly.Good old days.
Andy.
Flew when parked? Numbers matching?
More like it needs a new compressor. Turbine blade shouldn’t be too bad ? How cool is that if you could keep a operating, fighter jet, in your large garage or barn, out in the country , along with our classic car, or two…
Who remembers the movie where Burgess Merideth flew one chasing Lee Majors in an old Porsche race car after cars were deemed illegal?
the Last Chase
How’s the birdcage?
Well, the turbine blade alone will probably cost you $40K by itself, plus all the parts to get it installed. It doesn’t take much to push a jet engine up past the $100K mark for an overhaul, and then you’ve got to install and certify it. Add to this that you’re running the Orinda engine which isn’t as common as the old standard P&W. As much as I hate to say it, this airplane is pretty much destined to become the sentinel at the local VFW or entrance to the airport.
From what I understand, the Canadians used the F-86 when the AVRO CF-100 was being phased out. Someone was holding high hopes for the AVRO Arrow which ended up pretty much of a political nightmare. It exceeded all the specs that were laid out but the new leader squashed it because he was convinced that unmanned Bomark missiles would be all the defense that Canada needed…
Not an aircraft for a rookie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Sacramento_Canadair_Sabre_accident
Anybody who buys this should do so with the prearranged intention to donate it to an aero museum.
Any other plans to make this jet airworthy will need probably 20 times the purchase price in cash.
This can be a flyer without a lot of work. Now that’s funny.
Nothing a couple of turns of a screwdriver can’t fix.
actually Chuck Yeager did break the sound barrier in one of these.
Only he had to do it in a vertical dive.
https://www.realclearhistory.com/2019/10/01/learn_what_made_f-86_sabre_so_great_11957.html
a fascinating item. I can see it as a museum piece, yard art, or parked in the Man Cave (of some pretty wealthy gearhead, with a very big man cave, obviously).
…actually getting a machine of this type and vintage operational again? seems a bridge too far.
The way I look at it…. I do most of my own restoration and servicing work on my own classic cars… I like to think I’m fairly capable, but not a professional and on occasions – something screws up you may get stranded by the side of the road…
…imagine when something goes wrong on your 70-year-old fighter-jet… you most likely end up dead?
You will be able to fly all the way to the crash site.
Lets see; 20 stages (rows) of compressor blades and 6 rows of hot gas path turbine blades with 100 blades (buckets) on each stage. Each blade is probably $500 to 1K and not like changing plugs. Each nut and bolt is inspected and certified etc, etc. It didnt “toss a blade” and fix it for a ride. Thats a TOTAL 1/2 Mil overhaul plus all the other stuff; and theres a bunch. Thats just this fix, and not the yearly stuff. You really need to be rich and love the sport. Then theres the custom made G-suit. Its WAYYY more thabn just fun.
We’ll use a little “met-l-weld” and have that turbine blade fixed before ya know it! Guy down the street named “Earnest” says he can install it. (His daddy used to work on them things)
“The surprise attack by the North Koreans caught America and its allies quite literally with their pants down.”
Not even remotely “literally.”
Maybe”figuratively?”
No. Don’t thank me.
Any time a military post such as this comes up, the comments are usually from the people that dealt with these. On behalf of everyone here, thank you for your service.
yea, what’s up with that? when I hover over the like button it says javascript:void
I thought it was just my junk
also, every now and then it warns me I am posting too fast, even though that post was my first and only at the time, lol
it just did it, and its been 30+ minutes since my last post jeez
Ahhhh…. Mr Cruz.?? Mr. Tom Cruz.?? Do we have a deal for you….!
Down here in Oz I think we have at least one flying Sabre (or similar shaped copy) in an aero museum. The Museum fly a number of its planes in formation each Anzac Day (similar to the US Memorial Day) around in a big circle of country towns. I guess the memorial services are timed for the flyovers.
Just to throw in my 3 cents worth. I am a 71 year old Air Force veteran. Went in to be a aircraft mechanic, they made me a bomb loader. I never thought the F-86 was a good lookin jet. The intake looks like a cat yawning. And that huge canopy bubble. The F-100 intake was much better looking. I was stationed in Udorn, Thailand and would see a F-100 parked in a revetment. I had to stare at it. We had F-4s at that time, one of my favorites. Then I worked on A-10s at Edwards Air Force base. The Ugly Duckling. But a great plane. BTW, Ft Carson is a ARMY base. No airplanes that I know of.
Oops, you’re right, is it Peterson AFB?
Not interested……it’s not the F-14 I really want! 🤣😂😅
Lots of interesting comments. I would liken the F-86 to modern jets as an MGB to a Lamborghini.
But I still like the classics.
For goodness sake, would it kill you to put some air ( nitrogen in this case) in the tires?
and you can bet that there is a lone wolf out there who is itching to buy it at a lowball price for a VIN swap……lol
I still can’t like anyone’s posts, I have tried all the interweb fixes, so i dunno.
But my post never made it about Chuck Yeager helping a woman pilot be the first woman to break the sound barrier in a F86.
They had to gain the speed in a dive, great stuff
Thumbs Up button is hit or miss right now.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
The woman was Jackie Cochran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Cochran
Douglas Hunt, Would love to hear that story. I met General Yeager once.
My original post had the link, but I don’t know if it was removed or just issues on the site, as when I tried to post I was warned I was posting too quickly yet that was my first post when I got the jet fighter email
I just googled Yeager+F86+sound barrier, but you have to wade thru the X-1 info that pops up
Amazing man, I am from and still live in Charleston WV, and have been fortunate to meet him a couple times
There were two WW2 aircraft that, to me, were the most beautiful planes ever built. The Supermarine Spitfire and the F-86 Sabre are the ones. After the war the Hawker Hunter was a beautiful aircraft.
From my favorite Jet Jockey–“Actually went to Carson City to look at it before last years final Reno Air Race. The reason not much info is being shared is that it will take several hundreds of thousands to bring the ship back to minimal airworthiness, let alone the added cost to restore back to a ramp presentable condition. We figured just to get it to a “ferry permit” condition would take $175k.”
For those of us not into flying what is a “ferry permit”?
And from some earlier posts what do FOD and LOA stand for?
Thanks for helping those of us not in the know better understand things.
Ferry permit-special flight permit
FOD- Foreign Object Damage
Thank you Kek.