The Ultimate Sabre

In 1951, after studying contemporary fighter designs in England and finding them insufficiently developed to make building in Australia a reasonable proposition, a decision was taken to manufacture the Sabre F86-E under licence from North American Aviation from which drawings, appropriate master jigs, some assembly jigs and detail parts were made available. The Sabre was no mere assembly job, CAC incorporated two major improvements, the fitment of the Rolls-Royce Avon RA7 Turbojet in place of the General Electric J47 and heavier calibre Aden guns.

Installation of another engine brought problems; the Avon required about 25% more airflow than the J47 and this entailed deepening the nose air intake by 3½ inches. Although of higher power, the Avon was 40016 lighter than the American engine and had to be mounted further aft in the fuselage to maintain the centre of gravity in the correct position. A hundred sets of F-86F major structural components were ordered from North American Aviation to speed production but CAC had to redesign some 60% of the airframe. The cockpit layout was revised, fuel capacity increased and heavier armament was installed. The . 5 guns as used by the United States Air Force or the then standard British armament of four 20 m/m cannons were not desired by the Royal Australian Air Force and all Avon-Sabres were delivered with two 30 m/m Aden guns. With these changes the Australian. Sabre became the most outstanding member of the Sabre family.

The prototype CA-26 Avon-Sabre first flew on August 3, 1953, this aircraft was powered by an imported Rolls-Royce Avon and the first production CA-27 which followed on July 13, 1954, was similarly powered. Subsequent aircraft had engines built under licence by CAC. The initial series of 21 aircraft were first fitted with RA7 engines assembled from imported components and standard F-86F wings. These were called MK. 30 and following service trials were delivered to No. 3 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force on March 1, 1956.

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