Fighter Rebuilders to Restore ‘Skyblazers’ F-86 Sabre

Steve Hinton’s Fighter Rebuilders aircraft restoration workshop is set to restore North American F-86F Sabre 52-4959. This Sabre has dazzled air show crowds for many years adorned in the iconic livery of the Skyblazers aerial demonstration team, forerunner of the present-day USAF Thunderbirds. A new owner based on the west coast acquired the jet about six month’s ago and chose Hinton’s shop to refurbish the airframe. We received a few images of the aircraft undergoing disassembly from Larry Titchenal, who volunteers with the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida. Steve Hinton and his son, Steve Hinton jr carried out the work with other team members. The vintage fighter will make the journey to Chino, California by road in a few days.

 

North American Aviation built this aircraft as an F-86F-30-NA at their plant in Inglewood, California and delivered it to the U.S. Air Force in 1952. It later served with the Fuerza Aerea Argentina (Argentine Air Force), where it flew as C-109. In 1989, following the aircraft’s military retirement, a collector imported the aircraft back home to the USA and placed it on the civil registry as NX86FR. It has been based out of various locations in Florida ever since.

Following its initial restoration, the Sabre flew for a few years before Tom Righetti acquired the aircraft in 1997; it was Righetti who had the aircraft painted to represent another F-86F, serial 53-1201, during its time with the famed Skyblazers. After Righetti’s death, the fighter operated from Space Coast Regional Airport. Noted collector and pilot, Doug Matthews, leased the Sabre for a few years before returning it to the Righetti family. Thereafter, the  airplane stayed within a hangar at the Valiant Air Command until its recent sale via Courtesy Aircraft Sales. It will be great to see this charismatic jet back in the air again in the not too distant future! Many thanks to Larry Titchenal for sending us the images for this article.