The Ultimate Sabre

The wings were fitted with leading edge slats which gave good handling characteristics at low speeds but created considerable drag in highspeed flight. The United States Air Force modified its F-86Fs in Korea in 1952 to obtain higher performance, by replacing the slats with an extended Leading Edge known as the “6-3″ extension because it increased the wing chord by six inches at the root and three inches at the tip. When fitted to the F-86F the”63” wing gave a 7 mph increase in top speed, longer range and improved manoeuvrability at high altitudes. This modified Sabre was able to outperform the MiG-15.

These improvements were obtained at the cost of higher stalling and landing speeds but were well worth while and all Avon-Sabres had their slats replaced by “6-3” wings in 1957-58. They were redesignated MK. 31 and were supplemented by 20 new MK. 31s with CAC-built Avon 20 engines. Two of the new aircraft had extra fuel tankage in their wing leading edges, giving a total fuel capacity of 422 gallons instead of the normal 352 gallons. When a pair of 100 or 167-gallon underwing drop tanks were also carried this gave the Avon-Sabre an unusually good range and the Leading Edge tanks became standard on the final MK. 32 version.

Sixty-nine MK. 32 were built, with Avon 26 engines and attachments for four, instead of two, underwing fuel tanks, two 1000Ib bombs or 24 three inch air-to-surface rockets. The additional attachment points necessitated a reduction in the capacity of the Leading Edge tanks.

The Avon-Sabre showed its paces in combat operations against terrorists in Malaya for No. 3 Squadron, transferred to Butterworth in October 1958 and subsequently joined by No. 77 Squadron.

To maintain the effectiveness of the Sabre pending the introduction of a replacement fighter the armament was supplemented with air-to-air missiles in 1960. Firing trials had been made on MK. 31 aircraft with the British Firestread missile with the fire control equipment contained in an under-fuselage pack but the small, simple American Sidewinder infra-red homing missile was chosen as operational armament. Avon-Sabres of the two Malayabased squadrons were the first to be fitted with Sidewinders in February 1960. All MK. 32 aircraft were equipped to carry these weapons and earlier Marks were modified to accommodate them.

Though progressively replaced in operational service by the introduction of the Mirage 1110 the CA-27 was kept in RAAF service as a trainer to transition pilots from the Macchi MB-326H to the Mirage. When both the Mirage and the Macchi were introduced to squadron service it was felt that a transition aircraft would be required due to the vast performance gulf between the two types. By 1970 though it was realised that this was not necessarily the case and that pilots were streaming through without any undue problems when the Sabre was deleted from their OCU transition program.

By the early 70s, most Sabres had been sold, or given as aid, to Malaysia and Indonesia. It is ironic that during the period in the early 60s when Indonesia’s President Sukarno was so effectively rattling his sabres (no pun intended) against Malaysia and Australia when Indonesia possessed the much vaunted MiG-21 and we had our subsonic CA-27s, the very aircraft that was so denigrated in the Australian press (as usual!) should ultimately end up being 10 years later the mainstay of that air arms air superiority force! Though, thankfully, it never occurred the historical aspects of RAAF Sabres mixing it with AURI MiG-21s would have produced a rapid decrease in the size of the Indonesian MiG force. To this very day, there are quite a few Mirage pilots who wish a handful of Sabres had been kept for Dissimilar Air Combat Tactics (DACT) purposes.

The Sabre will go down in history as one of the most effective fighter planes ever built and it is a proud fact that Australia built, and largely re-designed the best of the breed.