Royal Netherland Air Force
North American F-86K Sabre "Kaasjager"
On
January 22, 1953, Air Materiel Command (AMC) of the USAF issued a request
for a Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) interceptor, in order to
begin equipping NATO countries. Despite firm stipulations that the aircraft
would have a two-man crew, North American looked to designing a simplified
version of their F-86D, which would also incorporate fire control equipment
in place of the still-secret Hughes E-4 system. This equipment, known as the
MG-4 fire control system, was designed and built by North American's
Electro-Mechanical Division at Downey, California.
The MG-4 was linked to an AN/APA-84 computer, which would provide intercept
information to a cockpit mounted scope in the same manner as the F-86D. To
give a back-up to this system, the aircraft would also mount an A-4 gun/bomb/rocket
sight for manual control. North American's designers had no problems in
modifying the design to accept the specified four 0.79 in (20 mm) cannon
armament in place of the rocket system, but differences in weight between
the two installations required an 8-inch (203 mm) forward fuselage extension
to regain the center of gravity position.
In most other respects, the new aircraft, accepted by AMC as the F-86K,
differed little from the F-86D, and was fitted with an afterburning
J47-GE-33 engine of 7,650 lb (3,469 kg) s.t. Armament for production
versions would be a group of four 20 mm M-24A1 cannons with 132
rounds per gun, firing at 700 rounds per minute. The cannon armament was
installed on either side of the cockpit, much the same as the day fighter
F-86A/E/F installation. A new access panel was set into each side of the
fuselage.
Fiat in Italy signed a license production agreement on May 16, 1953, under
which F-86Ks would be built at the company's Turin-Caselle plant from US
supplied components. Further to this agreement, on May 18, MDAP funds were
committed for North American to supply 50 sets of F-86K parts under Contract
AF-25402, signed on June 28, 1954. These aircraft would be assigned USAF
s/ns, but after assembly they would wear Italian Matricola Militare (MM)
s/ns.
During 1954, after much debate, the Dutch government resolved to use the
North American F-86K Sabre as an all-weather fighter. A total of 62 of these
machines were to be delivered under the MDAP. It was not a popular decision
as many high-ranking politicians and air force officers had intensively
lobbied for a two-seat all-weather fighter. The RNethAF (KLu - Koninklijke
Luchtmacht) decided to equip three all-weather interceptor squadrons (No.
700, 701 and 702) with Sabres.
The first squadron, No. 700, was formed at Soesterberg on August 1, 1955.
The Squadron’s equipment consisted at that time of three Gloster Meteor
T.Mk.7 trainers to keep aircrews current. 701 Squadron formed at Twenthe
Airbase, close to Enschede at the German border, on 1 December, 1955. 702
Squadron was formed by disbanding the Woensdrecht based 328 Squadron and
transferring its personnel to Soesterberg. During December 1955 the squadron
transferred again to its final destination, Twenthe Airbase. The RNethAF
consolidated its Sabre operations during 1959 with the transfer of 700
Squadron from Soesterberg to Twenthe Airbase.
The first fifteen North American-built F-86Ks arrived in Holland on 1
October, 1955 aboard USS Tripoli, and a further eight had been received by
the end of the year. Following assembly and test flight, the initial pair of
KLu Sabres, 54-1277 and 1278 were accepted by 700 Squadron on 8 December,
1955. A total of fifty-six North American-built F-86Ks were assigned to the
KLu, with deliveries completed by April 1957. A further six Fiat-built
machines were delivered in April and May 1957. Unable to create the ideal 25
aircraft squadron, the KLu decided to assign 19 F-86K to 700 and 701
Squadrons. 702 Squadron, officially established as the F-86K operational
conversion unit on 1 January 1957, had an average strength of 16 planes,
known affectionately as the Kaasjager (K-fighter).
The KLu F-86K’s were delivered in natural metal finish and initially carried
RAF WW II style letter/number markings to denote squadron assignment. 700
Squadron aircraft carried '6A-' codes, 701 Squadron aircraft bore 'Y7-' and
702 Squadron 'ZX-' codes, each aircraft being then assigned an individual
suffix number. In the early 'sixties, the KLu dropped this code system and
assigned a single character type designation (Hawker Hunters got ‘N’,
Republic F-84F Thunderstreaks got ‘P’ and so on) followed by a sequence
number. The F-86Ks formed an exception as they carried a 'Q', followed by
the last three digits of the USAF s/n.
Service life of the KLu F-86Ks was relatively short although from 1961
onwards, the aircraft were upgraded with Sidewinder launch rails and support
gear. Thirteen F-86Ks were lost in flying accidents over the years. With the
advent of the F-104 Starfighter the Sabre fleet began to wind down, and 702
Squadron, their training commitment complete, disbanded on 1 April, 1962.
The surviving aircraft were mostly passed to the remaining squadrons, but
starting 21 June, 1962, a number of high-time Sabres were permanently
withdrawn from use and sent to Fiat for reconditioning. At that time it was
thought that they would be passed on to the Turkish AF and a number of them
have been noted parked in the Soesterberg dispersal area, re-painted in
Turkish AF colours. In reality all these aircraft (up to ten) were instead
assigned to the Italian AF.
During 1963 701 Squadron was the next unit to disband and 700 Squadron
disbanded on 30 June, 1964. The F-86K was officially withdrawn from KLu
service on 31 October, 1964. Many of the Sabre personnel converted to the
F-104G Starfighter, but the old F-86K squadrons were never reactivated.
