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Avon Sabre, history- flying


72modeler

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I just now discovered this; in my opinion the Avon-powered Mk 32 was the highest-performing of all of the Sabres, and A94-983 has to be one of the prettiest. If I could fly a golden age weenie-cooker, it would be the Sabre Mk 32 or the Hunter FGA9. I hope you will find this a good modeling reference as well as a good read.

Mike

 

https://fsb.raafansw.org.au/docPDF/Flying_the_Sabre__1.pdf

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36 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing ! I saw her flying in Williamtown in 2010 and loved the sight of this aircraft in the sky

I am soooo jealous, Giorgio! She is the prettiest Sabre of all, in my biased opinion!

Mike

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That was one of the good things of living for a while in Australia, got to see aircraft that are impossible to find in Europe or the US. There were of course a lot of other positive things, but they would be better discussed in a different section of the forum.. at least the ones that can be discussed on an internet forum 😁

Anyway, here she is in 2010, heading to the runway for take off

 

b54fe658-8d51-4202-9b9b-6ece2126e332.JPG

 

During that airshow she took part in a formation flight with other past and current RAAF types. I only had a compact digital camera back then so this picture was the best I could get with my small Olympus

 

cc7a9e36-758a-4a9e-90c9-fb0b67be837b.JPG

 

I have an Academy kit with a High Planes conversion that I started preparing, I should really make a proper start on this kit. I'd have built a Grey Nurse Spitfire for the current Pacific GB but in the end I focused on an RAF one, in any case RG-V will be my next Spitfire. And I have kits and decals for both the Hornet and the Hawk... one day I will complete this group in 1/72 scale

 

P.S.  I believe that everybody should go to Australia at least once and I keep saying this to everyone I know. For an aircraft enthusiast there's the added bonus of a very active community, with many warbirds and several interesting museums

 

 

Edited by Giorgio N
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Not sure it was tyhe best performing sabre., a toss up with the F-86H. The J-73 put out 2890Lbs of thrust to the Avon 7500lbs. The CAC was more streamlined. Perfomance figure for both are about the same spped wise.

 

Julien

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You might be right, Julien. Before I posted, I did some math from the published specs. The F-86H was listed as weighing 13,836 lbs. empty, with 8.920 lbs. thrust. The Mk 32 Sabre was listed at 12,000lbs empty with 7,500 lbs. thrust. That gives the H a power to weight ratio of 1.55 (If I figured it right) and the Mk 32 1.6. With the lower weight, the Mk 32 would have had a  lower wing loading than the H, so maybe it was a little better in speed and maneuverability;  the armament was slightly superior to the H, in both caliber and rate of fire. Too bad we don't have an airworthy F-86H to pit against a Mk 32 to settle the debate!

Mike

 

Now, let's get back to some really important discussion- like the Mk XII Spitfire! 😜

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Being of an older generation, my father worked on these both at Williamtown in NSW and Butterworth in what is now Malaysia.

I well remember their zoom climb ability, going from ground level to about 14,000' then straight down again, never saw anything to match them until I saw an EE Lightning for the first time.

 

Their ability to get on the ground quickly was another feature which I found out on my second solo flight back in the late '60's when I tangled with four of them, I was told to do a low level right hand circuit, then just past mid downwind told to do an orbit, 4 of them broke over the top of me in what they call an initial at about 400 knots and were on the ground just as I finished the first orbit

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