The F-86 Sabre is an American single-seat, single-engine jet fighter built by North American Aviation, Inc. It was the first jet fighter of the Western Bloc that utilized the aerodynamic principles learned from German engineering at the end of the Second World War.
The wings of the F-86 Sabre were swept back in order to reduce the increase in transonic drag as the flight speed approached the sound barrier.
The first prototype was produced in 1947 and it was already operational in 1949.
It was used in the Korean War, where it faced the Soviet-built MiG-15, against which it proved superior.
After the Second World War, Yugoslavia under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito, although a communist state, managed to remain independent from Moscow and outside the Warsaw Pact. The cooling of relations between Tito and Stalin resulted in increased cooperation between Yugoslavia and NATO countries, which among other things led to the procurement of military equipment, such as the F-86 Sabre aircraft.
In the period from 1953 to 1960, 229 aircraft (F-86E and F-86D) were delivered to Yugoslavia, which remained in service until 1974 (serial numbers 10501–10729).
After Stalin’s death and the stabilization of relations with the USSR, these aircraft were replaced with MiG-21s.
The two aircraft located beneath the “Džepane” building in the southern part of Bitola in the former Barracks are of the F-86 Sabre type, specifically:
– 19566/11056 F-86E(M)
– 52-4118/14078 F-86D
After the F-86 Sabre aircraft were withdrawn from service in the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), they were sent to various parts of Yugoslavia, and two examples were placed in the Barracks in Bitola. As a strictly protected zone where civilian access was forbidden, some residents of Bitola knew that the aircraft had been brought to the Barracks, but very few had actually seen them.
There is no information about what condition they were in when they were brought to Bitola, but it can be said with certainty that until the moment when free civilian access was allowed to this area, the aircraft were in good physical condition. According to accounts, there were also remains of a helicopter near them.
It is interesting to note that technologies applied in these aircraft were revolutionary for that period, and their very appearance in the skies over Macedonia was a real sensation, especially because of their ability to break the sound barrier.
Today, although these aircraft are often publicly discussed and even initiatives for their restoration or conservation have been launched, unfortunately nothing has been done in that direction and they have practically been brought to an unrecognizable state.
