The power of a jet, the feel of a legend

There are aircraft you admire. And then there are aircraft that follow you through life. For Frédéric Akary – former Air France captain, competition aerobatic pilot, and the man who will be flying the Sabre for The Flying Bulls – this particular machine has been a presence since childhood. “My dream machine since I was ten years old,” he says. No further explanation needed. 

The Canadair CL-13B Sabre Mk.6 is the final and most powerful variant of the most prolific jet fighter the Western world has ever produced. Nearly 10,000 F-86 Sabres were built for 33 countries – more than twice the production total of the modern F-16. And yet today, roughly twelve are airworthy worldwide. This is the only one flying in Europe. 
 

The story of the Sabre starts at North American Aviation, the same factory responsible for the T-6 trainer and the P-51 Mustang. When their engineers designed a jet fighter in the late 1940s, they applied exactly the same philosophy: build a pure air combat machine. Big ailerons, a large wing, low stall speed, exceptional roll rate. No compromises in the direction of bombing missions or multi-role versatility. Just a fighter, designed to fight. “North American did the P- 51, which was a real air combat fighter,” Fred explains. “Then they designed the first jet with the same goal. And after the F-86, all the planes made were somewhere between fighter and bomber – heavier, less manoeuvrable. The Mk.6 is the last of that pure line.”

Canada’s masterpiece

The Canadair engineers had a simple ambition: take the battle-proven Sabre airframe and install the most powerful engine available. The result was the Avro Canada Orenda 14 – a twostage turbojet developed entirely in Canada, producing 7,275 lbs of thrust, 50% more powerful than the engine in the first American F-86s. Combined with the refined "6-3" wing with leading edge slats for exceptional low-speed handling, the CL-13B Sabre Mk.6 became the aircraft every NATO pilot wanted to fly. Climb to 10,000 metres in about five minutes. Top speed of 710 mph. Superior to every other fighter in the NATO inventory of its day – and, as Fred points out, with more low-altitude performance than many training jet fighters flying today.

“You’ve got this fantastic airframe and a very powerful engine,” he says. “And what is incredible – it is an aerobatic aircraft. Fully aerobatic. With the same flight envelope as the P-51, but with ten times the power.” He pauses, then offers the highest compliment he knows. “Bob Hoover – one of the greatest display pilots America ever produced – was once asked what his favourite jet was. He said: ‘The F-86 Sabre. Why? Because it flies like a Spitfire.’” For Fred, that says everything.

One aircraft, many lives

The newest addition to The Flying Bulls left the Canadair production line in 1958 – one of the last Sabres ever built – and was delivered to the Luftwaffe, where it served with Waffenschule 10, the Sabre conversion and training unit at Oldenburg in northern Germany. Its final chapter in German service was the most remarkable: assigned to the military flight test centre at Manching in Bavaria, it flew as a chase plane for the experimental VJ-101 – West Germany's attempt to develop a supersonic vertical take-off jet fighter. A Sabre keeping pace with the future, all the way to the end of its military life.

Since 2019, the aircraft has been based in Avignon, maintained and flown by Frédéric Akary – the pilot who will also be flying it for The Flying Bulls. For him, handing the Sabre to a professional team with the resources of Hangar-8 behind it is not a farewell. It is an upgrade. “I’m still flying the plane,” he says. “And now it’s in the best possible engineers’ hands.”

Why only twelve?

Nearly 10,000 Sabres were built. So why are fewer than a dozen flying today? For decades, collector interest focused almost exclusively on World War II aircraft. Korean War jets attracted little attention, and most were scrapped, repurposed as drone targets, or simply left to deteriorate. The Sabre slipped through the net. But today things are changing, and jet aircraft are starting to become popular – especially the F-86, which is an icon. Two new F-86s are expected to take to the skies again in the coming years, following thousands of hours of restoration work.

What makes the Mk.6 a genuinely sustainable long-term proposition – and what sets it apart from virtually every jet fighter that came after it – is its complete absence of electronics. No circuit boards. No obsolete components impossible to source. With three containers of spare parts, including complete landing gear assemblies and 12,500 brake pads, and an Orenda 14 engine that can still be fully overhauled, the aircraft is built to keep flying. Fred estimates it could remain airworthy for another 50 to 60 years.

What comes next

The Sabre brings something new to The Flying Bulls’ formation flying – the bridge between the last great prop fighter and one of the first and most iconic jet fighters. Both designed by the same factory: North American Aviation. The same engineers, the same philosophy, one extraordinary leap forward. Solo, the Sabre will stop crowds. In formation with the other warbirds, it tells that story in the air – how fighter aviation transformed in the space of a single generation. For The Flying Bulls, it is a treasure with 67 years of history, one extraordinary pilot, and a very long future ahead of it.