<article><hdr>Trio of F-86As in formation</hdr><body>
<hi style=afpcap>The predecessor to the F-100 was the F-86 which spanned the period from the late forties, when the US Air Force became an independent organisation, to the late fifties when the Century Series rules supreme. Three prototype XP-86s were ordered during 1945 as development aircraft for the new swept wing design. The first of these exceeded Mach 1 for the first time during the Spring of 1948; no U.S. fighter aircraft having achieved this feat at that time. By this time the F-86A had been ordered into production with funding made available in fiscal year 1947 through 1949 before subsequent versions began being manufactured. The F-86A model served Tactical Air Command as well as Air Training Command, with a trio from the latter organisation seen overflying the western USA while on a sortie from the Fighter School at Las Vegas (later Nellis AFB), Nevada.</hi>
