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4530th Combat Crew Training Wing
where it remained until July 1959. Then,
the Sabre was pulled from the USAF
inventory and flown to the Arizona
Aircraft Storage Branch of Air Material
Command at Davis-Monthan AFB. At
the vast facility, the Sabre stayed until
1960 when it was dropped from the
USAF inventory and transferred to “an-
other agency.” What this meant is the
Sabre was now available for transfer to a
foreign air force.Alan Ladd and June
Allyson. However,
when McConnell
was killed the film
had to be rewritten
to feature his death.
When released,
the movie was not
well received. From
that point, the story
of Joe McConnell
seemed to fade into
obscurity.NORTH AMERICAN
F-86F 52-5116
This Sabre
was built at North
American’s
sprawling plant in
Columbus, Ohio,
and accepted by
the USAF on 7
December 1953, a
dozen years after
the Japanese sneak
attack on Pearl
Harbor and illus-
trating just how far
fighter develop-
ment had come
in a relatively short span of time. What
is interesting is the fact that 52-5116 was
never assigned to a combat unit. Instead,
immediately after completion it went to
the 3595th Flying Training Wing (Air
Training Command) at Nellis AFB in
Nevada. Remaining at the desert air base
until April 1955, the fighter’s next stop
was Williams AFB in Arizona where it
joined the 3525th Combat Crew Train-
ing Wing (ATC). It stayed at Williams
but in July 1958 it was transferred to theimediately get to use this to advantage
against the enemy and it would not be
until 14 January 1953 that he scored his
first victory. From that point, victories
would come rather quickly and in just
over a month he shot down his fifth
MiG 15, making him a jet ace. As noted
in the sidebar, he was shot down while
achieving his eighth victory but was back
in action the next day when he destroyed
his ninth MiG. By the end of April 1953,
he had scored his tenth MiG kill to
become a rare double jet ace.
Back home, his fame was rapidly
spreading and the American public
began following his exploits. On the
morning of 18 May 1953, he destroyed
two more MiGs is a swirling air battle to
become a triple ace but even that record
was eclipsed later that afternoon when he
shot down his 16th MiG 15. At this point,
Lt. Gen. Glenn Barcus, who was the
commander of the 5th Air Force became
apprehensive about America’s top jet ace.
It would be disastrous for public morale
if McConnell was killed or made a POW
at the mercy of a barbarous enemy.
Accordingly, Barcus ordered McConnell
immediately back to the States where he
could become an instructor at George
AFB and share his knowledge with a new
generation of airmen.
While doing this, he was offered a
temporary test pilot position at Edwards
AFB where he would evaluate the new
and greatly superior F-86H variant. On
25 August 1954, he took F-86H 52-1981
aloft for an aerobatic functional check
flight and while doing this he radioed the
tower he was having control difficulties.
He was put in radio contact with two
permanently assigned F-86H test pilots
and told them he was maintaining
the fighter’s pitch control by using
longitudinal trim. The pilot to whom he
was speaking said he doubted that could
be done but McConnell said whatever he
was doing it was working. He also said
the canopy had departed the aircraft and
he was going to attempt a landing on
Rogers Dry Lake. Transmissions became
garbled and witnesses saw the pilot eject
at about 500 feet. His parachute never
opened and he was killed instantly.
An investigation led by Chuck Yeager
found that a bolt had been incorrectly
installed in the tail by the crew chief.
During this time, a film was being made
titled The McConnell Story and starring
Doug Matthews in the cockpit of his first Sabre, N86FN that is now
on permanent display in the EAA museum.Sabre heading to its new home.This unusual view of Doug flying the
Sabre gives an idea of the excellent
visibility from the bubble canopy. Doug
had an all-new glass cockpit installed in
the fighter.