F-86H: 413th Fighter Day Group confusion

[Sabrejet]

With the upcoming F-86 Group Build due later this year, I thought I’d take the opportunity to correct a number of erroneous misconceptions related to the 413th Fighter Day Group. But first a bit of history.

 

On 11 November 1954, HQ Ninth Air Force General Order No.62 reactivated the 413th Fighter Day Group (FDG) at George AFB in California with subordinate units the 1st, 21st and 34th Fighter Day Squadrons (FDS). On the same date, command of the Group was assigned to Col George ‘Ravin’ Laven, Jr with squadron commanders Maj Arnold ‘Moon’ Mullins (1st FDS), Maj Stephen L Bettinger (21st FDS) and Maj Richard D Creighton (34th FDS) also assigned. Thus the Group could boast two Korean War aces (Bettinger and Creighton) while Mullins had kills in both WW2 and Korea; he would be posted out to Far East Air Command on 11 April 1955 and his place taken by Maj Herbert A Pederson.

 

Colonel Laven (whose family nickname was “Butz”) had been a P-38 ace in WW2, registering combat claims with the 54th Fighter Squadron in Alaska plus a final one on 26 April 1945 with the 8th FS in the Philippines. His combat aircraft carried the name “Itsy-Bitsy” and when he moved to the 14th FG post-war (flying F-84B Thunderjets in Maine), his personal aircraft was named “Itsy-Bitsy III”, even though by that time it was at least the fourth aircraft to carry that name. When the 413th FG reformed in 1954, it was Laven who was largely responsible for applying flamboyant paint schemes to the aircraft (of which more later). Nominally, the individual squadron colours were red for 1st FDS, yellow for the 21st FDS and green for the 34th FDS.

 

The 413th FDG had been planned as an F-84F unit, but orders were revised to mandate the F-86H as the combat type though equipment and personnel scales still reflected ‘Thunderstreak’ during the early days. Allied to a lack of hangarage, offices and accommodation this period was one of challenge and frustration. It was therefore something of a blessing that only on 31 December 1954 were orders finally received to pick up ten F-86Hs from North American’s Columbus plant. In the interim, six F-86Fs (s/n 51-13261, 51-13263, 51-13268, 51-13322, 51-13326 plus one other) had been borrowed from the neighbouring 479th FDG in order to transition pilots onto F-86-type aircraft as well as to maintain currency. One hundred and eighteen hours were logged on these loaned aircraft up to the end of December and a further 140 hours in the Base Flight T-33 but the Sabres were a mixed bag of tired airframes and others which spent most of their time grounded due to lack of parts. But an unexpected bonus was the arrival of an F-86H-1 (s/n 52-2038) from Clovis AFB at the end of the year for filming “The McConnell Story” and this aircraft was retained on loan, allowing seven pilots to check out in the type before its return.

 

Ground training for pilots had begun at George AFB on 1 November (more than a week prior to the Group’s official activation), though this concentrated on the F-86F as a precursor to accepting loaned aircraft from the 479th FDG. Forty-nine crews attended ground training while another 62 were able to rotate through the F-86H Mobile Training Detachment set up at Clovis AFB in New Mexico. Maintenance crews also passed through the MTD at Clovis AFB while others attended the J73 engine course at Amarillo AFB in Texas and M39 cannon familiarization hosted at Lowry AFB in Colorado. But it was a steep learning curve: though a number of Sabre-qualified pilots had transferred from the 21st FBW prior to its movement overseas, many more of the aircrews had completed their training on F-84E and F-84F fighter-bombers and the majority had no swept-wing experience at all.

 

Expansion into more permanent facilities was made possible by movement of the 21st Fighter Bomber Wing to France during mid-December. The 1st FDS was then able to take over facilities held by the 72nd FBS; the 21st FDS moved into buildings previously home to the 416th FBS and the 34th FDS occupied facilities that had been occupied by the 531st FBS. Further moves were planned as refurbished buildings became available.

 

The first six F-86H aircraft for the Group were assigned to George AFB on 6 January 1955, though one of these (52-2114, which had developed excessive fuel leaks) was temporarily grounded at Tinker AFB and did not follow until early February. By the end of January, fifteen of the new aircraft had arrived at George AFB, all being assigned to the 34th FDS, which was programmed to be the first squadron to fully equip. Aside from a nominal strength of 25 aircraft, each squadron would also have an authorized personnel strength of 37 officers and 129 airmen but by the end of 1954 the Group was operating at only 25% of its full complement of 517 personnel. This initial shortage was exacerbated by low levels of type specializations, low experience levels and high loss rates of personnel being posted away. Despite this, from 7 March, the 1st and 21st FDS began to receive F-86Hs and by early May the Group was in excess of its nominal 75-aircraft strength. And somehow during this tumultuous period, the Group personnel managed to apply some of the most flamboyant colour schemes ever seen on USAF aircraft.

 

Taking advantage of newly-developed colours marketed by Switzer’s “DaGlo” company, the tail fin, intake ring, horizontal tail, wing tips and fuselage upper surfaces were given full coverage, in dayglo shades of each squadron colour. Additionally the forward tips and ‘stuka fins’ of each drop tank were also painted and a broad angled fuselage band (also in the squadron colour) was applied. Squadron Commanders' aircraft appear to have received an additional three horizontal lines of colour extending from the fuselage band and three-colour horizontal tail bands to signify the three squadrons of the 413th FDG. The intake ring was also painted with three vertical bands of each colour on squadron CO aircraft. Col Laven’s aircraft took this scheme even further, exchanging the single-shade fuselage upper surface treatment for a three-colour combination while the fuselage band also received the three-colour treatment.

 

_{Above: 1st FDS aircraft in the initial colour scheme for 413th FDG F-86Hs.}

 

 

_{Above: At front a yellow-trimmed 21st FDS aircraft in the initial colour scheme; lead aircraft at back is the 34th FDS squadron CO's machine, with three-colour nose and tail bands plus squadron badge.}

 

_{Above: 1st FDS CO's aircraft (circa April 1955) assigned to Maj 'Moon' Mullins.}

_{Below: 53-1234, the personal mount of George 'Ravin' Laven.}

 

 

And here an example of an unreliable internet profile (compare with above photo):

 

_{Above: a website representation of George Laven's F-86H: note lack of some colours on fuselage top surface, incorrect tail insignia etc.}

_{Below: my very rudimentary representation of the correct scheme. The 413th FDG tail logo only had three swords at the point the Group operated F-86Hs.}

 

At this point it is worth mentioning a totally different colour scheme that is depicted on Special Hobby’s 1/72 kit. The aircraft depicted (s/n 52-2109) was one of the first assigned to the unit and therefore became a 34th FDS bird. It was photographed in the ‘kit’ colour scheme on 11 February 1955 and seems to have been the first 413th FDG Sabre to receive Group colours. However, given that there is no evidence of other aircraft being painted in a similar way, it seems highly likely that 52-2109 was the only 413th FDGp F-86H to carry this colour scheme, which gave way to ‘Ravin’ Laven’s far more exotic version.

 

 

_{Above: 11 February 1955 photo of F-86H 52-2109 in 34th FDS colours. It is believed that this was the only aircraft to wear this scheme.}

_{Below: rough representations of the three squadron schemes worn by regular squadron aircraft: 1st, 21st and 34th FDS respectively.}

 

 

Francis A “Frosty” Sheridan, a pilot with the 1st FDS later recalled of the 413th FDG F-86H paint scheme, “These were all in “Day Glow” paint colors. Looked like a flock of parrots when we all got airborne. Later the colors were cut down to mostly the squadron red [on 1st FDS aircraft]. Later on after Col Laven departed most planes were stripped of paint”. Laven departed on 4 October 1955, replaced by Lt Col Maurice G Long; a poor-quality photo of 34th FDS aircraft at Lake Charles in November 1955 shows what appears to be a total lack of squadron colours or markings. It would therefore seem safe to deduct that the colourful 413th FDG markings were only applied in the period from circa February thru October 1955. The Group CO was Lt Col Gordon F Blood from 16 January 1956 and during this later period squadron badges were applied to the vertical fin of some aircraft.

 

 

Unfortunately there were many groundings during the F-86H period (for issues related to cockpit canopy, nose gear door etc) and with more aircraft than it was able to safely maintain, in April 1955 the Group decided to place a number of aircraft in temporary rotational storage so that each squadron would have 14 F-86Hs on strength and around 40 aircraft in storage at any one time. This situation existed until the end of the year and meant that the 413th FDG never really operated at full strength while it operated the F-86H. In September 1955 the 413th FDG received its first F-100Cs and on 31 October was directed to prepare the F-86Hs for transfer to the 312th FBW. From this time onward, the emphasis was on preparing Sabres for departure and preparing crews for the task of ferrying F-100s into the unit.

 

One last tasking for the F-86s involved the deployment of two F-100s and three F-86Hs to Wendover AFB from 13 to 19 January 1956 for the purpose of evaluating Dart towed targets. The Sabres acted as tow ships while the F-100s made firing passes; this deployment was supported by F-86H aircrew as well as two armament officers and 28 airmen.

 

_{Above: believed to have been taken during the January 1956 Dart target trial at Wendover AFB; F-100A is from 479th FDW while the 413th F-86H (still with the hard-edge wing) has been stripped of all unit insignia. This is George Laven's former mount, now in very plain-Jane colours.}

 

Mention should also be made at this point of the wing configuration of 413th FDG F-86Hs. As supplied, all of the Group’s Sabre aircraft were equipped with the ‘hard edge’ 6-3 wing with small vertical fence and initial flight assessment by 413th FDG crews highlighted the known issues of poor low-speed and high-altitude manoeuvring characteristics. The Group even recorded in its Jan-June 1955 historical report that, This organization has used every method at its disposal to have the Air Force approve and purchase for retrofit all F-86H’s in this unit with the 6 x 3 [sic] leading edge slat. It was hoped to have aircraft converted by September 1955 but this was not done; it seems likely that arrival of F-100s for the 413th rendered the slat conversion redundant and so the Group’s aircraft remained resolutely ‘hard edge’ until transfer to other units.

 

The F-86Hs departed between January and May 1956, mainly on transfer to the 312th FBW. And thus ended a very short but colourful period in the Group's history. George Laven later applied similar schemes onto other aircraft as he moved around the Air Force. Which brings me to the subject of erroneous information.

 

First is that the 474th FDS operated F-86Hs with the 413th FDG. Inactivated since WW2, this squadron was not re-constituted (as the 474th Fighter Day Squadron) until 26 September 1957 and activated on 8 October. It was assigned to the 413th Fighter Day Group concurrent with its activation and did not operate the F-86H since it was not active until 18 months after the last of the type had departed the 413th.

 

Next up, colour scheme misidentification #1. In Squadron/Signal Publications “Aircraft Number 126 – F-86 Sabre In Action” (pub. 1992), a range of colour side views includes a depiction of F-86H s/n 53-1409 with the caption “1st FDS/413 FDW at George Air Force Base”. But the attribution is in error, and it seems that the link between ‘F-86H’ and ‘dayglo’ had resulted in this scheme being labelled as a 413th aircraft. In fact 53-1409 was never operated by the unit and the scheme is not that of the 1st FDS. Moreover, the March Field Air Museum in California seems to have used the Squadron/Signal publication as the source for painting its restored F-86H s/n 53-1304 (a genuine 413th veteran) in the same colour scheme, erroneously believing it to represent the 413th.

 

 

_{Above: the erroneously-captioned Squadron/Signal profile.}

_{Below: similarly-marked F-86H at the March Field Museum, also incorrectly attributed to 413th FDG.}

 

 

Adding to the confusion of schemes, a further F-86H (s/n 53-1250, not a 413th FDG aircraft) displayed at the Lakeville Veterans Memorial in Lakeville, MN carries a similar scheme, but this time with green replacing dayglo/orange. Again, the colour scheme is not that of the 413th FDS, and it would seem that someone used the Squadron/Signal reference and reinterpreted it with the 34th FDS green shade, but in the wrong scheme:

 

 

So what is this scheme? Simply put, it is the scheme worn by test support aircraft assigned to the McClellan AFB Sacramento Air Materiel Area from 1961 to 1966. They were painted with extensive dayglo areas and each had the Sacramento AMA badge on the vertical fin. Two aircraft were painted in this colour scheme: serial numbers 53-1399  and 53-1409.

 

_{Above: Sacramento AMA test support F-86H s/n 53-1399 after being retired to a children's playground at Truckee, CA.}

_{Below: detail of the tail of the same aircraft. Though heavily faded, remnants of dayglo orange paint can be seen on the lower rudder mass-balance and traces of the white central panel also apparent. Note too the Sacramento AMA badge.}

 

 

And finally to colour scheme misidentification #2. An online website captions this scheme as “413th FDG USAF” while an F-86H conversion article here (https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=1037) follows a similar line, but this time with white as the trim rather than dayglo. The aircraft depicted had in fact previously served with 413th FDG aircraft (s/n 53-1283) but not at the time it wore this colour scheme.

 

 

It was in fact another test support machine, but this time assigned to the Oklahoma Air Materiel Area at Tinker AFB from February 1961 to March 1965; this aircraft doesn’t appear to have carried an Oklahoma AMA badge on the tail. Colouring of this scheme is a moot point: dayglo is more likely than white, but monochrome photos do not show the usual evidence of dayglo fading/breakdown that would normally be visible. I’d still tend toward dayglo, but either way it’s not a 413th colour scheme.

 

 

 

So hopefully that sorts things out. Good luck later this year and maybe we’ll see a few 413th FDG, Sacramento AMA and Oklahoma AMA F-86Hs built, but with correct unit attribution!

[tempestfan]

That's massive, thank you Duncan for sharing!

In defence of the artist who did 1234, that intricate pattern on the diagonal sash isn't visible in the pic (well, at least I can't see it). But that of course does not explain missing out the yellow on the fuselage decking, the striped tank fins and use of a rather oversize font for the fin serial.

[Sabrejet]

And yet....

 

This photo bothers me. 

 

 

The aircraft in the background definitely has the 34th FDS badge. So it should be a green-trimmed aircraft right? But we know that on the three-colour 'squadron commander' aircraft the lower hue on the tail band is green. And looking at the green (lower) band on this aircraft, the shade is much darker than what is visible of the fuselage band and topside colour. So it appears that this aircraft is either red or yellow-trimmed, and since we know that red is the 1st FDS colour (confirmed by Frosty Sheridan in personal correspondence years ago and confirmed by his photos), it must be yellow.

 

Which makes no sense. Since the colours on the various bands are arranged "red-yellow-green" the convention would be that green corresponds to the numerically highest squadron number (34th FDS). Except that in this instance it can't be.

 

So a few options: 1. 34th FDS squadron colour really was yellow (and 21st FDS green), or 2. This is a 21st FDS aircraft pressed into service with the 34th FDS.

 

Or maybe a third option: look at how far forward the fuselage band is, compared to the aircraft in the foreground: is it possible that the aircraft in back had three fuselage bands, with green being visible (and possibly yellow), with red obscured behind the aircraft in front of it? 

 

So it will have to remain a conundrum at the moment. I will update this thread if I can make more sense of it all.

[RidgeRunner]

Excellent stuff, Duncan!!!!! Anything on the F-86H floats my boat! I am intrigued - would you say that those three images/drawings of the 1st, 21st and 34th FDS schemes are based on side view accurate drawings? I'm struggling to find anything that represents the true and accurate outline and detail :(. I have a MD ANG machine to build this year and need to inject a fair amount of accuracy in to the inaccurate SH kit!

 

Thanks, Martin

 

[Sabrejet]

Those schematics are just that: for illustration purposes only. However from what I see of people doing 3D drawings from images, it shouldn't take much for an enterprising soul to project the photo schemes onto a corrected side view. With luck....

[Whirly]

Thank you for this exhaustive post on a very interesting (and colorful) subject.

 

Don't want to hijack this thread, but since you are the F-86 guru and we're talking about the Hog, did you ever find more images of this subject and the reasoning behind this most peculiar paint scheme?

I see its role as a target, but I can't remember any post-war a/c painted that way, it reminds me one of the Liberator assembly ships!

 

[Sabrejet]

Yes it existed, it was supposedly a target tug for the 131st at one point. The ANG painted several F-86s in colourful schemes (yellow and orange often) for similar duties.

[Terry1954]

This is excellent stuff on the H Duncan. Thank you for posting.

 

I'm also intrigued by your other thread on the new Clear Prop 1/48 F-86A, with potential for other marks .................. will we ever get a decent H do you think? 🤞

 

Terry

[Sabrejet]

4 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

.................. will we ever get a decent H do you think? 🤞

 

Terry

 

I wouldn't hold your breath. Sadly.

[Julien]

On 16/04/2024 at 22:13, Sabrejet said:

 

I wouldn't hold your breath. Sadly.

 was hoping you could persuade someone to do this as well as the A 

[Sabrejet]

41 minutes ago, Julien said:

 was hoping you could persuade someone to do this as well as the A 

 

Another version, but not this one...

[Julien]

3 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

 

Another version, but not this one...

Good news / bad news

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

On 2/29/2024 at 11:52 PM, Sabrejet said:

And yet....

 

This photo bothers me. 

 

 

The aircraft in the background definitely has the 34th FDS badge. So it should be a green-trimmed aircraft right? But we know that on the three-colour 'squadron commander' aircraft the lower hue on the tail band is green. And looking at the green (lower) band on this aircraft, the shade is much darker than what is visible of the fuselage band and topside colour. So it appears that this aircraft is either red or yellow-trimmed, and since we know that red is the 1st FDS colour (confirmed by Frosty Sheridan in personal correspondence years ago and confirmed by his photos), it must be yellow.

 

Which makes no sense. Since the colours on the various bands are arranged "red-yellow-green" the convention would be that green corresponds to the numerically highest squadron number (34th FDS). Except that in this instance it can't be.

 

So a few options: 1. 34th FDS squadron colour really was yellow (and 21st FDS green), or 2. This is a 21st FDS aircraft pressed into service with the 34th FDS.

 

Or maybe a third option: look at how far forward the fuselage band is, compared to the aircraft in the foreground: is it possible that the aircraft in back had three fuselage bands, with green being visible (and possibly yellow), with red obscured behind the aircraft in front of it? 

 

So it will have to remain a conundrum at the moment. I will update this thread if I can make more sense of it all.

I see three bands on the vertical tail/rudder. Yes I modulated the photo to help draw out what Im seeing. 
 

 

I don't see anymore than one diagonal stripe on the fuselage.
 

 

I think the plane could've been a recent transfer from another squadron. Possibly maintenance crews haven't finished in the markings changeover ? 
 

Dennis

[Sabrejet]

3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I think the plane could've been a recent transfer from another squadron. Possibly maintenance crews haven't finished in the markings changeover ? 
 

Dennis

 

One should never say "never", but I'd think that if the 34th FDS gained a rival squadron commander's aircraft, they'd have painted over the fuselage band before applying a badge.

 

Or an alternative might be that applying the squadron badge was easier than changing the fuselage band colour? Some of these squadron badges were actually decals (very large, but still decals), so it's an interesting hypothesis.

 

These things need to be ironed out for when the 1/48 F-86H kit comes out!

Edited April 19 by Sabrejet