QF-86E Army Sabres by Ron Downey
In the summer of 1981, I took a tour of the F-86 conversions at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico which turned them into QF-86 unmanned target drones. I was a guest of Flight Systems, Inc of Mojave Ca, the managers of the program.
I first published a short article in “Crazed Plastic” (See below) and then a revised and larger article in “Radom Thoughts” (RT) in 1982. RT is the IPMS Canada’s publication. Here is that article.
The very distinctive Orange color used on these birds is called Omaha Orange from the Dupont Centari No. 31AH collection. A close match for Omaha Orange is FS 12473. The sample in this article was painted with the actual Dupont color.
"Thumper" was destroyed on a NOLO mission in August 1981. It had survived at least 9 missile shots!
For further info on the Qf-86 Target drones, get Duncan Curtis's wonderful book "North American QF-86E/F/H/Sabre". It is Number 58 of Steve Ginter's "Naval Fighter" series. Click here to purchase book
Update: Click here to see the Duncan Curtis article on Flight System Sabres
Download the QF-86 Army Sabres article in a PDF here
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