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many 1940s vintage aircraft, the
instruments are poorly located.
Flying in solid IMC weather will
require a third eyeball, And prayer.
Switches and lights are seemingly
placed at random throughout the
compact cockpit,- Flight controls are hydraulically
plane — lots of airshows and
displays. Of course, with the
Sabre I went through all the
manuals and pilot reports. I
went through a detailed pre-flight with my maintenance technician
on the day of my first Sabre flight. Prior
to mount up on any Sabre, here are
important things to remember:- There is only one engine,
- The cockpit layout is not
‘ergonomically balanced.’ As with
satisfaction, we knew it would be an
entirely new aircraft.” The team has been
responsible for two A-4s, a T-Bird, and
eight Marchettis. “I am pretty confident
about them,” said Doug. “Besides my
flying experience, my undergraduate
degree and Master’s degree are both
in Aeronautical Engineering so I can
really wade in and ask some very specific
questions as they work on the aircraft.”
The Sabre had last been owned by
the Commemorative Air Force and had
last flown in 1997. The owner donated
the plane to the CAF unit in Reno and
that is where Doug spotted it while
participating in the Reno races. Little
work had been done on the aircraft, but
the entire electrical system had been
stripped out! This would become one of
the biggest challenges of the restoration.
“I got the plane in 2013,” said Doug.
“Right from the start I knew we were
going to tear it down to components
and get busy with the rebuild. As with
any aircraft restoration, you have to
have a plan and get right to work. If you
sit, it just will take longer and longer to
get done. We knew that with our latest
Sabre we wanted to make the fighter
as close to perfect as possible and that
includes many modern systems as well as
completely rewiring the F. I had gotten a
fresh from overhaul GE J47-27 turbojet
and this would be, of course, the heart
of the restoration since these engines are
now rare.”
It is obvious that Doug is enamored
with the Sabre. It is an airplane that is
deeply in his blood. “I have some very
definite opinions about the Sabre. Over
the years, I have had the opportunity to
fly two of the Canadair Sabre variants
— the Mk. 5 and Mk. 6. Then, I myself
with the F that is now in the EAA
Museum and then with the Skyblazers’
F model and I flew the hell out of that
Overhauled main landing gear struts.
New nose skin being fabricated.Every bit of old paint was removed from the airframe. In this view, the tail cone is being
blasted clean.McConnell in the Sabre with his crew chief. Note that the fighter displays the full 16 kills
over MiG 15s.