Was The Canadair Sabre The Best Sabre?

Not A Pound For Air To Ground
Not A Pound For Air To Ground
18,436
0
Published 2024-06-28
Canada built over 1,800 Sabres under license from North American Aviation, becoming very expert in the type. Sufficiently so that later marks of Canadian Sabres were fitted with more powerful Orenda engines and other refinements. This video investigates the history of the Canadian Sabres and asks whether they were, in fact, the best of the breed.

Sources:

By far the best single volume on the Canadian Sabre is "The Canadair Sabre" by Milberry. Long out of print, it commands a high price on the used market but is well worth it

Far less detailed, but also interesting for its pictures is "Aircam Aviation Series No. 20: Canadair Sabre Mk.1-6; Commonwealth Sabre Mk.30-32 In RCAF, RAAF, SAAF, Luftwaffe & Foreign Service" by Joos and Ward. It also has the longest title of any book in my collection!

Otherwise sources are shared with my main Sabre video
All Comments (21)
  • @LeCharles07
    I'm starting to suspect all Sabres are, in fact, the best Sabres.
  • @rpick7546
    'I'm going to include the Hog because I like it and I can.' Tough to argue with that.
  • @roo72
    I used to go out on Friday nights. Now I just sit at home waiting for a new video from this channel to drop.
  • @gavinhammond1778
    I'm Australian so obvi the CAC variant. But jingoism aside, the RCAF fleet dwarfed ours and during the early 50s those Canadian aviators were genuinely the spear tip, and for a long while, numbers and experience count for a fair bit. So I'll be reasonable and call it even 😊. Thanks for the content.
  • @alanholck7995
    When I was stationed at Kadena in 1990s there were 2 Canadair Sabres that were used to tow the darts for air-to-air gunnery practice. Sometimes they would lead a 4-ship of F-15s on way back.
  • @rastarn
    Eric "Winkle" Brown is repeatedly on record saying that the Sabre was his favourite aircraft, and also that one of his few regrets was never having the opportunity to fly the CAC Mk 32 Avon Sabre.
  • @RielMyricyne
    "The Vampire was clearly obstolete by 1949" So crazy to think that aircraft were obsoletes after 4 years.
  • @rv6ejguy
    My father flew these in Europe. 430 squadron 2 Wing. His favorite aircraft. The Canadians cleaned up on all the NATO gunnery contests and the MK 6 was feared by most NATO pilots in dog fights. I was a great time to be a Canadian fighter pilot.
  • @topquark6242
    My father flew Swords back in the fifties and did the first half of his European tour in Mk.5's before being reequipped with Mk.6's. He said they were not the same aircraft and the only advantage the Mk.5 had was altitude. He claimed he could cut inside any other fighter he went up against because the Mk.6's auto-slats gave such incredibly fast onset G. If he was still alive he would have a fistfight with anyone who said the Mk.6 was not the greatest fighter of all time!
  • @lllordllloyd
    The Australian Avon Sabre wired for 'winderswas best, but such a massive re-engineering as to be not the most cost effective of them. The F-86 was Winkle Briwn's favourite and an engineering marvel in its time.
  • @Sssaaatttuuurrrnnn
    I don't think there will ever be another aircraft as beautiful as the Sabre.
  • @the_real_bin_chicken
    Aussie Sabre with its Avon engine, cannons and sidewinders was superior in my view, but the Canadian Sabre was a close second.
  • @Archie2c
    The final pic made me tear up😢 I would have love to have seen Arrows and TSR2s in Squadron Service
  • @MarijnRoorda
    I'm such a nerd, that i just watched a 22 minute video on which version of the Sabre could have been best, a plane that was decommissioned over 60 years ago. And best of all, there was even some humor in it too...
  • @Squeesher
    Canadian here, you're fine lol, I completely agree that the heavier firepower of the CAC Sabre just edges out the CL-13 Mk. 6 as the best Sabre. Thank you for this video and all of your other great videos on aircraft!
  • @wacojones8062
    Good presentation. I meet some of the Canadian ground crews at Ft. Belvoir in the early seventies when I was a Generator instructor. They were down Thule in Greenland for a 4-week course on turbine powered generators. They served with Saber 6 units in Germany before being posted to Thule. One of their commanders flew through a Hanger when an alert caused two squadrons to try to take off from opposite ends of the runway.
  • @johnstirling6597
    I recall a passage in Chuck Yeager's autobio from when he was stationed in Germany, challenging all comers to Sabre races, he always won , because he cranked in and strapped the tail pipe of his Sabre to boost the exhaust pressure, ( at the threat of burning out the engine!).