Did the F-86D ever carry AIM-9Bs? All references I’ve seen show just the FFAR tray or 20mmX4 for the export versions. Saw a pic of a model with AIM-9s, like the F-86s in the late 50s. After the FFARs performance during the Battle of Palmdale (Aug.16,1956) where 208 Mighty Mouse (mice) were fired at a QF-6 ,with no pilot and no contact with the ground based drone controller, with NO hits… the idea of back up for the FFARs is not far fetched.
I know nothing about this topic but did some internet sleuthing because it seemed interesting. I couldn’t find a single image of a USAF F-86D with an AIM-9. I did see a couple of conversations on the topic and the argument being made was that the US used the F-86D as an interceptor, not a day fighter, and the damage inflicted to a bomber by an AIM-9B would have been insufficient. Rockets being deemed more useful against larger targets or formations. Other countries that used the AIM-9B with their F-86s used them in the day fighter role.
There were also some arguments that the AIM-9 program was a US Navy program and the competitiveness / lack of cooperation between the services may have meant USAF munitions, like the AIM-4, would have been the preferred armament, anyway.
I have no understanding of the validity of these statements just repeating what I’d gleaned from a search of the interwebs.
As far as the inter service thing, USAF and Navy used the AIM-9B at the same time . AF loaned Navy 3 F-104s for the development testing. (and USN broke all 3, killing 2 USMC aviators in the process. 'Course one was the Air Forces fault. Aircraft was sent to George AFB for service. The techs screwed the pooch and did not hook something up right. When the USMC pilot was taking off to go back to China Lake, the plane refused to take off and fireballed at the end of the runway. ) I think it was about the time of the G/H they parted ways, AF adopting the J/P. The roads merged again for the L/M and X. As for inability to take down a bomber with a winder, true dat. I remember reading somewhere that a B-52 was tagged with one (Oop!) and made it to base without much fanfare. A fighter bomber would be another story. First kill wth a winder was Sept. 24, 1958 by an ROC F-86 over the Taiwan Straits, downing a PRC MiG 17. (In a later engagement a ROC Saber harpooned a MiG17… got a hit but it did not detonate. The MiG flew home with the missile sticking out its side. Chinese sent the thing to the Soviets and they reverse engineered it to become the AA-2 Atoll. ) As originally stated, only Saber Dog I’ve seen with AIM-9Bs was a model. Not the most reliable reference source.
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