Sabre F-86

All of my photographic life I have been interested in

photographing aeroplanes, not that I have had many

keepers over that time but there have been one or two.

I did take a successful photograph of a Sabre F-86

once though but can't put my hands on it at present.

That Sabre was in a collection of historic aircraft

parked in the desert at Tucson, Arizona.

Nevertheless, here is a Sabre F-86 that I saw

earlier this week. Kept in a hangar at Ardmore

airfield just south of Auckland, it is an ex-Australian

Air Force model. Although it is undergoing restoration

whether it does get to fly again is uncertain.

Sabres first flew in 1949 and were developed over the next

10 years. More than 6000 were built. Famously, they

were used in the Korean War, where they were up against

the equally sculptural MiG 15. I was lucky to see a couple of

MiG 15's being restored in Australia.