Paint Scheme To Honor Museum Co-Founder

The North American Aviation F-86 Sabre that was on display at Jamestown Regional Airport (KJMS) in Jamestown, North Dakota, has been moved to the Fargo Air Museum where it will be the honored guest at the museum’s 16th Annual Celebrity Dinner & Auction.

The aircraft was disassembled and moved by a group including community volunteers, High Power Crane, and Industrial Builders, Inc. The 96-mile move along I-94 to the museum’s location at Hector International Airport (KFAR) was completed about a week before the museum’s fundraiser on September 12.

Max Sabin, Fargo Air Museum’s Collections Manager said, “The Fargo Air Museum is honored to be the new home of the North American F-86H Sabre #53-1253. Over the course of the winter, the F-86 will be reassembled and stored in anticipation of its eventual restoration to static display and mounting in front of the Fargo Air Museum’s Main Hangar along 19th Avenue.”

Although Sabres were never stationed in North Dakota, several local pilots flew the aircraft, including the co-founder of the museum, the late Maj. Gen. Darrol Schroeder (Ret).

This Sabre will be repainted in the markings of the 563rd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, the same unit Schroeder was assigned to in the late 1950s.

Sabin explained, “This project, in part, honors Darrol Schroeder, a local veteran pilot who was deeply passionate about aviation his entire life and served his country from the lowest rank to one of the highest. The post-Korean War service of F-86 Sabres is sadly underrepresented. Once completed, this is the only known F-86H painted like that of the 563rd Fighter Bomber Squadron in the late 1950s. This static display will help tell a small, but significant, chapter in the history of the US Air Force.”

FMI:  fargoairmuseum.org/