Crewed F-86Ds in Germany from 1956-59 while with the 526th FIS, 86th FIW. As a member of the USAFE 1958 Rocket Team we traveled to Moody AFB and picked up some F-86Ls from somewhere and worked to get them up to 526th standards for the William Tell Meet. Except for the slightly longer wing span and some avionic changes the 'L' was basically a -45 F-86D that we were used to. Taxiing the birds to the run-up pad at Moody meant negotiating some rather narrow taxi roads, I remember, with civilian workers in the culverts. We crewchiefs had some stories to tell about that. It was our first (and only)experience with the 'L'. I thought the F-86D/L was a beautiful bird... 05/17/2004 @ 23:20 [ref: 7424]
Philip J. Marsala Salt Lake City, UT
I built these F-86's at North American Aviation, location: LAX. This was in 1952 t0 1954. 02/16/2001 @ 01:40 [ref: 1649]