What color was the speed brake bays on the F-86D? I’ve seen Interior Green, Black, and Red. All the photos I’ve seen are restorations or models … not my preferred reference sources. The written info has been nothing official. Just WAGs and POOMAs. 'Course I guess, first I should ask, were they usually open when sitting on the ramp? Looks like the gear doors, slats and rocket pack are down when on the ramp. (hydraulics bleed down pressure when the engine is shut down?) And, while I’m at it, what color for the landing gear bays? Door interiors, I know are aluminum. Interior green? Aluminum too? (I know some P-51s had aluminum bay walls and green “ceiling”… NAA stick with that tradition?)
Interior green…originally ?
From https://warbirdswalkaround.wixsite.com/warbirds/north-american-f-86-sabre
H.P.
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The F-86 Sabre Pilot’s Flight Operating Manual states in the “Stopping Engine” checklist item 5: “Speed brake switch - out”. The manual does not elaborate on why the speed brakes are selected out for parking. There is also a ‘neutral’ position on the speed brake operating switch that locks the speed brake in whatever position it’s currently in by obstructing flow in the hydraulic lines to the system. There are flight-line photographs of the F-86D Sabre Dog version with the brakes retracted; the carrier derivation likely has a different checklist omitting that line, possibly to reduce the number of things hanging out when you’re pushing planes around on the flight and hangar decks.
This wreck was a range target hulk that I came across in Bosnia. Per the date plate that I found, it was an F-86D that was sold to the Yugoslavs back in the day.
Anyways, aside from the cockpit area being in Interior Green, most of the rest of the interior was in Dull Dark Green
Area aft of wing
cockpit area and nose gear well/strut
Didnt know there was a Navy version of the 86D.
The Navy never fielded operational units of the F-86D; there was a naval version in development with eyes toward use by the Marines, but issues with disjoint hardware – different production blocks of F-86Ds required different spare parts, different manuals, and different operational procedures – the Navy declined large-scale procurement, despite having been involved with the development and testing of the 2.75" FFAR “Mighty Mouse” rockets fitted in a retractable rocket pack to the F-86D
I think the FFARs were a joke China Lake pulled on the Air Force … (Like the Irish invented the bagpipes as a joke to pull on the Scots. They still havent figured it out.) SCVHistory.com | The Battle of Palmdale | The Terrifying Tale of the Runaway Drone (Pageant, May 1957).
I was under the impression that the Mighty Mouse FFARs were based upon the Luftwaffe R4M rockets carried by the Me-262 at the final stages of the air war. The jets were too fast to get in a good burst on the bombers, but firing a volley of R4Ms allowed for a better probability of kill.
Of course the Mig-15 vs. B-29s over Korea later showed this was not a major obstacle, as their cannon were optimized for anti bomber work and opposed to shooting down smaller maneuvering fighters. And the USAF stuck with .50 calibers for aerial guns work far longer than they should have…
Might have been. As I remember the German ones were deadly IF they hit something. (Which , as the Battle of Palmdale proved, was NOT a given. Dirt, Pontiacs and oil tanks don’t count as hits.) Though the Soviets used rockets against German bombers ,without much success. Japanese used Willie Pete bombs against the B-29s. Drop them from above and hope, when they burst, the phosphorous would ignite the aluminum aircraft skin. (related to magnesium, I gotta believe an aluminum fire would be just as nasty.)