Golden Hawk: Restored Sabre Fighter CNE star attraction

[HOZ]

Celebrating 100 years of Canadian flight

A restored F-86 Sabre will be a star attraction at the Canadian International Air Show, Sept. 5-7 at the CNE.

It's one thing to restore a 55-year-old car back to its former glory and take it out for its first test run.But a 55-year-old jet fighter?
You're certainly not going to get away with the equivalent of a couple of gentle laps of a shopping mall parking lot to see if anything falls off.
So as Vintage Wings of Canada was putting the finishing touches to Hawk One, an F-86 Sabre that first flew in 1954, Paul Kissmann was doing his homework.
Kissmann, a test pilot and one-time CF-18 Hornet pilot, was not only the Hawk One project manager but also the man who would take it off the ground for the first time.

[Crispy's Critter]

that's a beautiful plane. Would love to see it up close

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Crispy's Critter

that's a beautiful plane. Would love to see it up close

You should have gone to the Lethbridge Airshow, you'd have seen it fly there, and much closer than the CNE airshow which is predominantly out over the lake.

[BlackArcher101]

Star attraction? I think not. It's nice, but not what I would be pay an airshow ticket for.

[Bigtime]

I took these at the Westjet BBQ last week:

[Byrns]

The thing is probably more airworthy than the snowbirds.

[Bigtime]

Byrns, you are probably right!

How about we scrap the snowbirds and just restore a bunch more of the Sabres and fly them in the Golden Hawks colours again?

[greyshep]

I lucked out and was able to see this plane a couple of weeks ago in Penticton, BC. It as well as the snowbirds were doing some flights over Skaha lake on and off for a few hours while we were at the beach. When I first saw it, I thought it was some Mig fighter jet, but realized later that it was a bit different. Pretty amazing sight really, sitting on the beach and this thing banks and streaks overhead multiple times.

I believe they were getting prepared for the smoke/haze shortened snowbird opening of peach fest the following weekend.

[icarus]

Off topic, but I saw two large planes flying in air-to-air refuelling formation over Oxford yesterday which was really cool. Likely that one or both of them were VC10s from nearby RAF Brize Norton. I've never seen that before, which is a bit ironic because my company is regarded as the world leader in air-to-air refuelling technology.

[Two Fivenagame]

cool looking plane. Good thing it has a Danger Intake...it's the Danger that helps it fly.

[Bigtime]

All the coolest planes intake danger to fly...

[CaptainCrunch]

When I look at military planes, pure dog fighters always have a place in my heart. Before the advent of the long range missile engagements, it was man against man with the man using the best tactics winning. Blazing cannon fire so close that you can see your enemies faces. High speed highly agile craft ment to fight like two hawks fighting over food.

Todays modern air combat tactics has taken the romance out of the concept of flying.

Now you see a barely recognizable dot on your heads up display, you squeeze the trigger then turn away from the enemy. With the Tomcats Phoenix missile your effectivly in range from 120 miles away so you can kill your enemy before he even knows your there.

One of the great deterances of war was the young man who had to go out to fight, look their enemy in the face and kill them up close and personal. You got the feeling about the horrors of warfare and the personal cost and pain. Now its so video game and arcady that its almost become to easy, you rarely see your enemy, and you kill him from so long away that theres no personal feeling, and I'm betting to some, it becomes a god like addiction.

[Bigtime]

Very true CaptainCrunch, I love the WWII and Korea era fighters. How can anyone look at the lines of the F-86 and not love it? She's a beauty!

[CaptainCrunch]

She looks like a bird of prey.

The American's were so convinced that dog fighting was a thing of the past in Vietnam because of the advent of guided missiles that they designed and manufactured the F-4 Phantom without a cannon. It was going to be a long range missile interceptor. They realized it was a mistake because you can never count on a kill unless you see it and to many missiles were failing.

[Jayems]

This was at the Airdrie Air Show last month too.

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by Jayems

This was at the Airdrie Air Show last month too.

got pics of it over my house, cool plane, makes such a nice noise!

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

One of the great deterances of war was the young man who had to go out to fight, look their enemy in the face and kill them up close and personal. You got the feeling about the horrors of warfare and the personal cost and pain. Now its so video game and arcady that its almost become to easy, you rarely see your enemy, and you kill him from so long away that theres no personal feeling, and I'm betting to some, it becomes a god like addiction.

I was watching a documentary about the drone fighters being used in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they interviewed a F-16 pilot turned drone pilot, who had done combat time in both, and he described the drone fighting as more intense emotionally and psychologically than the F-16. I don't think the human element is abstracted away all that much by the technology.

Fighter pilots are a different breed in some respects too - they are so highly competitive, that putting their life on the line as the wager in a dogfight isn't all that outrageous a proposition in their minds - more a testament to their self confidence and confidence in their machines and abilities. It's much more about winning/losing than straight up killing for them.

[STeeLy]

These were taken on both days at the Air Show in Lethbridge.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Jayems

This was at the Airdrie Air Show last month too.

WHAT??!

I thought that airshow wasn't worth going to. Aw man, this would have been cool to see.

*cries*

Oh, and yes this is a beautiful fighter, but I still like the P-51 and the Super Marine Spitfires the best.

And the Avro Vulcan always has a special place in my heart for some reason.

[automaton 3]

^Great pics. Love the paint job on the Hornet as well.