Service History of F-86L-55 s/n 53-658
Above - 53-658 seen whilst
being reassembled in Ohio after its recent recovery from Florida. The
aircraft looks to be in relatively good condition, but that overall
silver paint scheme was hiding a great deal......
53-658 was originally ordered
as one of 225 F-86D-55 aircraft for the United States Air Force, for
which the order was placed on 12 September 1952. Under Contract AF-22303
and model specification NA52-937, these 'Dash-55' aircraft introduced
the following features:
- Alternate Hydraulic System accumulator dump valve (s/n 53-707 and
on)
- Inverter external power receptacle relocated to RH of aft fuselage
- AN/ARC-34 UHF command radio replaces AN/ARC-27 of earlier models
- Automatically-opening seat belts (upon ejection).
Many of these features were retrofitted to earlier F-86Ds.
With North American Aviation (NAA) construction number 201-102, s/n
53-658 was manufactured at the NAA plant at Inglewood, California and
delivered to the USAF on 27 January 1955.
The aircraft's first assignment
was to 60th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS), based at Westover AFB
in Massachussetts and part of 4707th Defense Wing. The 60th FIS was
in the process of converting from earlier-model F-86Ds (that did not
have the braking parachute, amongst other things), to the later D-55
models and 53-658 was one of the last of the newer aircraft to fly in
for the unit.
On paper the aircraft then
had a further assignment, this time to 337th FIS, on 18 August 1955,
but in reality this did not represent a move to a new location. Under
Project Arrow it was decided that, following World War II many USAF
squadrons had become geographically and organizationally divorced from
their historical parent Wings or Groups and so on 18 August 1955 a massive
renumbering of squadrons enabled order to be restored. Thus on that
date 60th FIS was re-numbered 337th FIS, though the 'new' squadron remained
assigned to 4707th DW and 53-658 stayed put at Westover; it was a confusing
time.
53-658 stayed with 337th
FIS until 4 January 1956, when the aircraft was sent to the NAA facility
at Fresno, California and routed through conversion to F-86L standard.
The F-86L was basically an upgraded F-86D, capable of integrating into
the new SAGE defence network and being one of the first aircaft to be
converted, it appears that not all of the work was done at Fresno.
Therefore on 27 June 1956,
still designated as an F-86D, 53-658 was assigned to 49th FIS at Hanscom
AFB, Massachusetts. 49th FIS was heavily involved in testing the new
SAGE system and it seems that further conversion work was undertaken
at Hanscom (possibly in conjunction with the nearby MIT Cambridge Research
Center, which was responsible for developing SAGE), and on 23 October
1956 the conversion to F-86L was finally noted on its record card.
During its time with 49th
FIS, the aircraft took part in a Temporary Duty (TDY) attachment to
Portsmouth from 1 August to 7 November 1957. As the squadron began to
phase out its F-86L aircraft, '658 was sent to the Air National Guard
53-658's new assignment was
with 158th FIS, Georgia ANG at Travis Field near Savannah, Georgia,
effective 11 September 1958. Little is known of this period of the aircraft's
life, though since the squadron began replacing its F-86L aircraft with
C-97F transports in 1962 (following a change to Air Transport Squadron),
it seems probable that the aircraft was donated at this time - probably
some time after April 1962.
53-658
seen at West Point, circa 1974. The aircraft's serial number is just
visible on the tail fin.
53-658 is next noted at West
Point, displayed in overall silver-painted colours and with a sharkmouth
nose design, in the mid-1970s. From here it went to Yesterday's Air
Force at Pinellas Park in Florida for the museum there, and further
to St Petersburg/Clearwater Airport for the Florida Museum of Military
Aviation by early 1996. By this time it had gained a fairly accurate
49th FIS colour scheme, representative of its previous assignment in
1956-58.
Above - 53-658 seen just before recovery from Florida. Colours are
of 49th FIS.
When the museum closed,
the aircraft were removed and placed in outside storage. Still officially
owned by the USAF Museum, the F-86L was placed on indefinite loan to
MAPS Air Museum, who recovered the aircraft from Florida in 2007 (see
http://www.mapsairmuseum.org/).
If you can help MAPS with
spare parts or assistance, email Ken Koehn at: KTMKOEHN
@aol.com
