Word: 86d
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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When the buzzer sounded, two pilots, bulky in their flying gear (pressure suit, parachute, oxygen mask, survival kit, maps), dashed toward two long, lean F-86D fighters. In two minutes they were surging down the runway with a crashing roar, and two more jets rolled into position for takeoff. Before their wheels were fully up, the lead pair were getting radio orders and a fix on the suspect plane. Interceptor pilots can open fire at will against any aircraft they believe to be hostile. Identifications are quickly made in daylight; at nighttime, pilots buzzed by suspicious jets are quick...
...Better jet interceptors are needed. The F-86D, the fastest fighter now in Air Defense squadrons, is hard to handle. Current interceptors have enough staying power for only one or two quick bursts at any intruders. The big new F101 Voodoo, which has the range and speed for repeated passes, is only just going into production...
...Force and the "Gee-Whizzer" by Lockheed, the new ship is a small, relatively simple day fighter designed to win local air superiority over the battlefield. Its weight is only about 14,000 Ibs. combat-loaded v. 18,000 for North American's F-86D, but it packs a hefty Curtiss-Wright J-65 engine, blasting out more than 7,200 Ibs. of thrust. The speed is secret. Officially, the Air Force will say only that the XF-104 is supersonic in level flight...
...North American F-86D Sabre jet "broke 700" last week: i.e., established a new official speed record of 715.7 m.p.h.* The previous official record, also held by a Sabre jet, was 699.9 m.p.h. To turn the trick, Lieut. Colonel William Barnes, 32, flew his Sabre jet at the most favorable spot: the hot desert that surrounds the Salton Sea in Southern California. A Sabre jet is built to fly at mach .91, i.e., 91% of the speed of sound. Above this speed, it runs into a sharp increase of air resistance that is called "compressibility drag rise." Since sound moves...
...pilots "lost the feel" of the ship because of the new power control system; to supply "artificial feel," a spring and a bob-weight were built in so that the pressures on the stick would vary with changes in speed and altitude. The nose of one model, the F-86D interceptor, was loaded with special radar equipment which will track down an enemy plane, figure its speed and angle of approach, automatically steer the F-86D on an intercepting course and fire its load (24 "Mighty Mouse" rockets) before diverting the F-86 so it won't collide with...