That's Number Ten

Last crawled date: 7 years, 1 month ago

This F-86E is a tribute to my uncle who was a fighter pilot. For two years during the Korean War, he flew 67 combat missions in a P-51D, 35 combat missions in an F-80, and 123 combat missions in the F-86. While flying the F-86, he shot down ten North Korean aircraft and damaged three others making him the top American jet ACE (at least until other pilots later exceeded his ten victories) when he returned to the United States in 1952. Later in his career he flew over a 150 combat missions in an F-4 into North Vietnam and Laos. He retired as a Major General. He was the most competitive person I’ve ever known, he had a wonderful sense of humor, and he was a true gentleman in every regard. I never once heard him utter a curse, and I never saw him unhappy about anything. He recently passed away while playing golf at age 91.The F-86 in this scene is a representation of the one he was flying when he scored his tenth victory. It has the same serial number and markings and as much historical detail as I could find. This was the second dog fight of the mission that day and so he was low on fuel. After shooting down the MIG in this scene, he no longer had sufficient fuel to make it back to base or to friendly lines in South Korea. He climbed to 17,000 feet before he ran out of fuel and then glided to the ocean. He bailed out at 3,000 feet and was rescued by a seaplane while under fire from the North Koreans.I attempted to capture the “story” in an instant in time. I’m not sure I succeeded, but I’m fairly satisfied with the overall results.The aircraft textures are composits from that have been modified in Photoshop. The F-86, for example, has over 75 layers in Photoshop. All textures are without copyright or CCL restrictions. The HDR file is included. It too is without copyright or other restrictions.As usual, there are no restrictions on the models in this scene. Use them however you like.Latest Change on 2013/08/14, 03:53:09Editing.