F-86F-1 Sabre #51-2897, 39 FIS 51 FIW, Korea 1953

The North American F-86 Sabre (sometimes called the Sabrejet) was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as America's first swept wing fighter which could counter the similarly winged Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights over the skies of the Korean War. Considered one of the best and most important fighter aircraft in the Korean War, the F-86 is also rated highly in comparison with fighters of other eras. Although it was developed in the late 1940s and was outdated by the end of the 1950s, the Sabre proved versatile and adaptable, and continued as a front-line fighter in numerous air forces until the last active operational examples were retired by the Bolivian Air Force in 1994. Its success led to an extended production run of more than 7,800 aircraft between 1949 and 1956, in the United States, Japan and Italy.

F-86F-1 s/n 51-2897 was assigned to the 39th FIS, based in Suwon Air Base South Korea, in the autumn of 1952. Having been used by several different pilots, the jet was assigned to 2Lt James Thompson in the early spring of 1953, and he used it to down two Migs in May and June of that year. The first of these kills saw him destroy a MIG-15 adorned with a large dragon motif on its left side. USAF intelligence determined that this was probably flown by a high-ranking Russian pilot. Soon after the mission, flown on 18 May, the fighter's crew chief, Sgt J W 'Bill' Manney, painted a dragon down the left side of the Sabre.