FROM THE ENGINEERS DESK TF-86F Two seat Sabre On 3rd February 1953 NAA began design of a two seat F-86F, to meet a USAF requirement for high speed T-33 trainer replacement. Initial construction of the NA-204 began on 8th April 1953. The new aircraft was a modification of the F-86F-30 by splicing in a 63 (160cm) plug into the forward fuselage to accommodate the second cockpit. The alteration in the CofG thus caused was corrected by moving the wing forward by 8 (20cm). The trainer would use a one piece clamshell canopy, rather than the sliding type fitted to the fighter. Armament was not fitted. One change from the fighter version was the use of the slatted wing, rather than one with the fixed 6-3 leading edge. The first aircraft 52-5016, made its first flight on December14th, and proved to have a similar performance to the F-86F. On 17th March 1954, NAA test pilot Joe Lynch, took off from Nellis AFB on the aircrafts ninth flight. Pulling into a slow roll on take-off, the aircraft crashed and exploded, killing Lynch. Investigations revealed that the base personnel had filled the fuel tanks completely, rather than partially, as required by the flight profile, the extra weight leaving the pilot no margin for error. On 23rd March the AF authorised the construction of a second machine as the NA-216. The last F-86F-35 was converted to the new configuration, with further modifications as a result of the previous, brief, flight tests. An extended vertical tail was installed, along with a ventral fin. Two .50 cal guns were also installed, along with underwing pylons, as was the slatted wing. The aircraft,53-1228, flew for the first time on 5th August 1954,but on 7th February 1955, the Air Force announced that no production aircraft would be procured. Therefore, on 10th March the aircraft was transferred to Edwards AFB for use as a chase plane. The aircraft had a sucessful career at Edwards, before being retired in November 1958, and finally scrapped in March 1961. From rom North American F-86 Sabre, Duncan Curtiss, Crowood Series, pp.87-89 Via secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8568.0 r/Jose
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:00:01 +0000
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