This effort was inspired by those USAF pilots who flew F-86s at Lowery Air Force Base in the mid-1950s, especially those who had flown in the Korean War and awed a seventeen-year-old cadet at the Air Force Academy. These included Raymond Barton, Charles Gabriel, and William Yancey. I attempted to write this story there and then, but the academic system at that time would not allow it. So here, almost a half century later, is that account.
My sincere appreciation and thanks are extended to the great number of people who assisted in making this project a success. As the citations reveal, most of the research effort was conducted at the USAF Historical Research Agency, where Joe Caver, Archie Difanti, Dan Haulman, and Forrest Marion were notable for their help. At the Air Force Materiel Command, Bill Elliott lent valuable assistance, as did Doug Lantry at the Air Force Museum, Von Hardesty at the Air and Space Museum, Tim Nenninger at the National Archives, Tom Lubbesmeyer and Mike Lombardi at Boeing, and Wilson Sullivan and John Daly at the Federal Records Center in St. Louis. Thanks are also due to Sharon Sellers MacDonald for making sixty of her father’s letters available to me.
Sixty former Sabre pilots made a great contribution to this study. They were very cooperative in describing their experiences and in answering my numerous questions in a candid manner. Their contribution broadened what otherwise would be a multi-archival study and deepened it into areas thus far neglected.
The reference librarians at the Air University and Radford University made my task much easier, as did the interlibrary loan librarians. Special thanks are also due Mark Gatlin at the Naval Institute Press for encouraging this project and pushing it along. Jennifer Till and my competent and patient copy editor, John Geldmacher, were also instrumental in getting this project into print.
But most of all, this book could not have been possible without the effort, encouragement, and support of my wife, Jeanne.