Legendary Fighter Looks Good Wherever It Flies!

ALL eyes craned skyward as the sound the F-86 became audible... and the only person enjoying it more had to be the guy on the stick... Captain Dale “Snort” Snodgrass.

The North American Aviation F-86 Sabre was one of this nation's best known and much favored transonic jet fighters. Best known for its astounding ability to take down MiG 15s in the Korean war, the bird developed an almost mythical rep among the pilots who flew it.  The bird had a great run... starting in the late 1940s and still active nearly a decade later, the Sabre pulled duty as a front-line jet fighter until the last active front line birds were put out to pasture by the Bolivian Air Force in 1994.

Some 7800 aircraft were produced between 1949 and 1956, serving the US, Japan and Italy, although versions of the bird were also produced in both Canada and Australia to the tune of another 1815 airframes.

Captain Dale “Snort” Snodgrass is a 26-year veteran of the United States Navy and one of the first of two Navy flight school graduates to be awarded an F-14 Tomcat; he was the first non-fleet experienced pilot to carrier qualify in the F-14, both day and night, and with 4,800 hours in the aircraft, is the highest time F-14 pilot.

During his Navy career, he flew 12 operational Fighter Squadron/Wings tours including Command of Fighter Squadron 33 during Desert Storm for which he led 34 missions.  For his service, he earned both the Bronze Star and three Navy Commendation Medals for Valor. In addition, Captain Snodgrass has over 22 years of air show experience including a dozen years as a USAF Heritage Flight pilot.

FMI: http://sabre-pilots.org, www.teamms760.com/snort-bio.html, www.acc.af.mil/library/biographies/bio.asp?id=10525, www.acc.af.mil/aerialevents/heritageflight/index.asp, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews