Canadair Sabre The Canadair Sabre was a jet fighter aircraft built by Canadair under licence from North American Aviation . A variant of the North American F - 86 Sabre , it was produced until 1958 and used primarily by the Royal Canadian Air Force ( RCAF ) until replaced with the Canadair CF - 104 in 1962 . The resulting variant was considered one of the finest dogfighter s of its day . Several other air forces also operated the aircraft . Design and development . In 1948 , the Canadian government decided to re - equip the RCAF with the F - 86 Sabre and Canadair was contracted to produce them in Montreal , Quebec , Canada . An initial batch of 10 aircraft was ordered for tool verification . The Korean War changed this to a production batch of 100 aircraft . Canadair slowly built up its production facility to make all components with related equipment obtained from other Canadian suppliers . Canadair gave the Sabre the project number CL - 13 . Canadair produced six versions of the CL - 13 Sabre . The sole Sabre Mk . 1 was essentially the same as the North American Sabre F - 86A . It had a General Electric J47 - GE - 13 turbojet of 5 , 200 lbf ( 23 kN ) thrust . The Sabre Mk . 2 had the same engine , although after the first 20 aircraft were produced , the remainder of the production run was distinguished in having power - assisted controls and an " all - flying " tailplane . The sole Sabre Mk 3 was the first of the Canadian Sabres to use the Avro Canada Orenda turbojet ( Orenda 3 with 6 , 000 lbf ( 27 kN ) thrust ) . The Sabre Mk . 4 retained the General Electric engine and was destined for the RAF and was later passed on to other overseas air forces . The Sabre Mk . 5 was the next production version , equipped with an Orenda 10 with 6 , 500 lbf ( 29 kN ) thrust . A change to the Orenda 14 with 7440 lbf ( 33 kN ) powered the Sabre Mk . 6 . The designation Sabre Mk . 7 was mainly experimental . The last Sabre to be manufactured by Canadair ( Sabre # " 1815 " ) , after being donated by the Pakistan Air Force , is now part of the permanent collection in the Western Canada Aviation Museum ( WCAM ) in Winnipeg , Manitoba . From 1950 to 1958 , a total of 1 , 815 CL - 13 Sabres were built at the Canadair plant in Montreal . Operational history . The second generation of Canadair Sabre aircraft , and first to be built in quantity , was the Mk 2 , with 350 produced from 1952 – 1953 . The RCAF received 290 of these improved aircraft . During the first half of 1952 , the remaining 60 Mk . 2s were supplied to the U . S . Air Force for use in the Korean War . Most RCAF Mk . 2 Sabres were utilized in the air defence role with NATO ' s No . 1 Air Division in Europe , proving itself to be an outstanding dogfighter . Others were assigned to the training role at bases in Canada . After replacement by the Sabre 5 in RCAF service from 1954 , just over 210 surviving Sabre 2s were overhauled and modified in the UK and supplied in roughly equal numbers to the Greek Air Force and Turkish Air Force s . In mid - 1952 , the Sabre Mk . 4 went into production with the first one flown on 28 August 1952 . Apart from some minor structural and systems changes , including improved air - conditioning and gun sight , the Mk 2 and the Mk 4 were identical . Of 438 Mk 4s built , approximately 70 were used temporarily by the RCAF , all surviving examples being passed to the RAF . The other Sabre 4s went directly to the RAF under a mutual aid program , equipping 11 RAF squadrons . The majority served in West Germany with NATO , with two squadrons being based in the UK as part of RAF Fighter Command . The Sabre Mk . 4 served with the RAF until mid - 1956 when they were replaced by Hawker Hunter s . The survivors were overhauled in the UK , fitted with ' 6 - 3 ' wing modifications and handed to the USAF ( which had funded these aircraft ) which in turn passed them on to other NATO members , with the majority going to Italy and Yugoslavia . On 30 July 1953 , the first Sabre Mk . 5 flew with the Orenda 10 engine , which gave it a clear rate of climb and ceiling advantage over earlier variants . Other Mk 5 improvements included a new oxygen system and improved maneuverability and low - speed characteristics achieved by increasing the wing chord by six in ( 15 . 2 cm ) at the root and three in . ( 7 . 2 cm ) at the wing tip along with fitting a small vertical wing fence . This modification , originated by North American on the F - 86F , dramatically improved maneuverability , though the loss of the slatted leading edge increased landing speed and degraded low speed handling considerably . Canadair built 370 Mk 5s with the majority designated for use in the RCAF ’ s Air Division squadrons in Europe to replace the Mk . 2s . A total of 75 RCAF Sabre 5s were transferred to the German Luftwaffe during 1957 . The Canadair Sabre Mk . 6 was the final variant and was considered to be the " best " production Sabre ever built . It was equipped with a two - stage Orenda engine developing 7 , 275 lb ( 3 , 302 kg . ) of static thrust . Its altitude performance and climb rate was enhanced over the Mk 5 and the reinstatement of the wing leading edge slat gave it excellent low - speed characteristics . The first production model was completed on 2 November 1954 and ultimately 655 were built with production terminating on 9 October 1958 . A total of 390 Mk 6s went to the RCAF with the majority replacing the existing Canadair Sabre Mk 5s at the Air Division squadrons in West Germany and France . The main air threats to NATO in the 1950s in Central Europe were the early variants of the Soviet MiG - the MiG - 15 , MiG - 17 , MiG - 19 and MiG - 21 . Based on the Korean War experience , the selection of the Mk 6 Sabre to provide an effective opposition to the MiG threat proved to be a logical one . Canada ’ s commitment to NATO was to provide 12 squadrons located at four bases – two in France ( Marville and Grostenquin ) and two in West Germany ( Zweibrücken and Baden Soellingen ) . Initially , the contribution consisted of only Sabre aircraft ; however , later it was decided to include the Avro Canada CF - 100 aircraft in the defense package to provide a night and all - weather fighter capability . In addition to the RCAF deliveries , 225 Canadair Mk 6 Sabres were exported to the West German Luftwaffe , six were delivered to the Colombian Air Force , and 34 went to the South African Air Force . Canadair Sabres were dominant in the two major conflicts in which they were employed : the Korean War where F - 86 Sabres racked up an impressive 6 - 1 kill record and the Indo - Pakistani War of 1971 . In January 1966 , Germany sold 90 of its Canadian Mk 6 Sabres to Iran . These aircraft were quickly transferred to Pakistan and became the main day fighter of the Pakistan Air Force . The last aerial encounter of 1971 War turned out to be a dog - fight between a supersonic MiG - 21 and the relatively slow and much older F - 86 Sabre . The F - 86E ( Canadair Sabre ) flown by Flight Lieutenant Maqsood , Amir emerged as the victor and the Indian Mig - 21 pilot Flight Lieutenant Tejwant Singh who ejected after being hit , was taken prisoner . Squadron Leader Rab Nawaz was the Radar Controller for this interception . Women ' s speed records . In 1952 , Jacqueline Cochran , then aged 47 , decided to challenge the world speed record for women , then held by Jacqueline Auriol . She tried to borrow an F - 86 from the U . S . Air Force , but was refused . She was introduced to an Air Vice - Marshal of the RCAF who , with the permission of the Canadian Minister of Defence , arranged for her to borrow " 19200 " , the sole Sabre 3 . Canadair sent a 16 - man support team to California for the attempt . On 18 May 1953 , Ms . Cochran set a new 100 km speed record of 1 , 050 . 15 km / h ( 652 . 5 mph ) . Later on 3 June , she set a new 15 km closed circuit record of 1078 km / h ( 670 mph ) . While she was in California , she exceeded 1270 km / h in a dive , and thus became the first woman to exceed the speed of sound . Golden Hawks . The Golden Hawks were a Canadian aerobatic flying team that was established in 1959 to celebrate the Royal Canadian Air Force ' s 35th anniversary and the " Golden " 50th anniversary of Canadian flight , which began with the AEA Silver Dart in 1909 . Initially , a six - plane team flying brilliantly - painted metallic - gold Canadair Sabre Mk . 5s , was envisioned as performing for only one year , but the Golden Hawks were so popular after their single 63 - show season that the team was expanded . In the following year , another plane was added to the team , allowing for a five - plane main formation with two solo jets . The Golden Hawks continued performing for three more seasons , changing to the Mk 6 in 1961 , until they were disbanded on 7 February 1964 , having flown a total of 317 shows across North America .