"Doug Matthews and his crew at Classic Fighters of America recently completed a years-long restoration of an F-86 Sabre fighter jet in Central FL, one of the most iconic military aircraft in history. The aircraft served in the U.S. Air Force initially, before being reconditioned for service in Argentina. It joined the Argentine Air Force as ‘C-119’ in November, 1960, and flew with that nation until being withdrawn from use in 1986. Around 1989 it was re-imported back to the USA, passing through a number of owners before being acquired by Matthews in 2013.
Being an aviation aerial photographer, we decided to time our shoot for the window of a rocket launch on March 1, 2022, as a ULA Atlas V rocket was slated to launch NOAA's latest weather satellite GOES-T from Cape Canaveral. With mostly clear skies and an all GO forecast given 30 minutes before launch, we hopped in the jets & took off, hoping the launch wouldn't delay since we only had gas for about 45 minutes.
The launch went off at the opening of its window, with us at the edge of the restricted air space flying 11,000 ft at 250 knots.
A huge thanks to Doug Matthews and my friend and pilot Scott Farnsworth, aerial aviation photography is a true team effort, everyone needs to do their part or the whole thing falls apart."
"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."-- Thomas Jefferson
The guy flying the photo a/c made one of the most common mistakes(at about 2:30 mark) that you see when executing what we call a “running rendezvous”. He was closing on collision bearing (constant bearing, decreasing range) which means you don’t see the closure until it’s too late. Results in flying past the lead…oops.
If he had been flying a parallel flight path, he could have seen the lead a/c moving aft on the canopy earlier (relative motion) and controlled his closure better. I gave our students the formation lecture before they started the formation stage and when I addressed running rendezvous, I warned them that, “if you’re doing a running rendezvous and you don’t see relative motion, something is wrong!” Usually it’s due to the “head-hand interconnect”. They look to the right, their hand moves a tiny bit to the right and they make a little wing dip toward the lead. Then they do it again and the next thing you know, you’re on collision bearing and you can’t see the closure and away you go belly up inside a 100’ trying to dodge him. Yahoo!
It’s really an easy maneuver but it’s also easy to screw up. As the target😮 (lead) when the wingman is belly-up, inside 100’, and you can’t see his little “punkin’ head peaking over the canopy rail, you know he can’t see you …….and I’ve been that target and can tell you, it’s really scary, especially at night.
To make the point, I reminded them that in aviation, you have to be really careful about using the words “always” and “never”. But this is a no chit “NEVER”…in training, you never want to scare a guy that’s going to fill out your grade sheet and if you’re solo, you just scared the guy that’s going to fill out you your grade sheet. 😁 Oh, and if you’re on a dual flight, you just scared TWO instructors.”
That usually got a chuckle out of them.
Last edited by navlav8r; 03/12/22.
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
The guy flying the photo a/c made one of the most common mistakes(at about 2:30 mark) that you see when executing what we call a “running rendezvous”. He was closing on collision bearing (constant bearing, decreasing range) which means you don’t see the closure until it’s too late. Results in flying past the lead…oops.
I actually said "idle - boards out" as I saw it developing.
Cool video though and the Sabre is such a classic jet.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
You wankers that worry about formation geometry etc, you need to relax a little.
Imagine if you will, that you are number 7 in a flight of 12 Hueys inbound to a hot LZ. You'd think the pilots would be nervous about flying formation with that many fellas and having their main rotors overlapping with about 3-5' of vertical clearance.
I suspect that when Charlie saw that they thought we were totally insane, and ran off into the jungle rather than try to argue about what we were doing. They may have been right.
Army regulation 308-69B forbade sneezing when flying in tight formations.
I am..........disturbed.
Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain
God, I loved doing that stuff. Yeah, my hands were moving the whole time, just like Pugs and navlav8r's were. Loved that final turn...gear, flaps, boards, power 85%...
It occurs to me that I may be the only guy in history to do the jet AND the launches.
I almost got to fly the F-86. The Ground Attack School the USAF set up for prospective FACs had access to many more mothballed F-86s than other types, but there were no two-seat versions. So they went with AT-33s, which was a kind of hybrid F-80 with two seats. It was a trainer to upgrade propeller pilots to attack jets in Korea. They managed to get 24 of them air worthy for the school - and no two were alike. Even the IPs were disappointed that they couldn't fly F-86s.
One of the guys I used to work with (now deceased) flew F-86s in Korea and got credit for 2 1/2 Migs. Later he was the ANG Commander here and eventually made General. Unflappable, unassuming and just an all around good guy. Got injured really badly in an RF-4 on a low level training route when they hit a buzzard at 480 kts. The back seater was able to land it safely. I didn’t know if at the time but the back seater was one of my civilian flight instructors when I got my private pilot license through NROTC.
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
Beautiful jet. Was at USAF Museum in Dayton again last year and seem to remember a plaque in the Korea section with an F-86 pilot’s account of passing a MiG driver so close he could clearly see his blond hair and blue eyes (Russian).
I actually said "idle - boards out" as I saw it developing. 
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