NORTH AMERICAN F-86F 52-4755 EUGENE, OR 29 JUNE 2003
The following is an edited account of this aircraft’s history with most info provided by
Lt. Col. (Ret) Dean Abbott in an e-mail to me in July 2003.
After service in the USAF, F-86F 52-4755 was transferred to the ROK AF. Years later they
gave it to the Portland Guard and that is where it went directly from Korea. I have talked
to a retired Guard Sgt. who was one of the crew sent to Korea to disassemble the bird for
shipping and who stripped the Korean markings and gave it the paint job it currently carries
after it arrived in Portland. Portland did give it to the Clackamas Museum but it never went
there as they could not store it or display it indoors due to limited space so they further
loaned the bird to us (the Oregon Air and Space Museum) and have the right to get it back. It has been owned by the USAF
Museum at Wright Pat. since it was transferred from Korea.
During the restoration it was painted as 51-2892 and a brand new zero time engine installed.
The restoration was completed in Sept. 1991.
The OR ANG operated F-86s from 1953 to 1955.
I would like to know more about this aircraft, especially the significance of 51-2892 and the markings.
Ron
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