Ray Wagner, now the curator of the San Diego Aerospace Museum, is probably the world's authority on the North American F-86 Sabre. One of the first aviation books I got that was just about a single aircraft was his Sabre book published by Doubleday back in the very early 1960s. That poor book has probably been read to death by me and is still an excellent source of information on the F-86 Sabre.

I was fortunate to get to meet the author back when I was stationed in San Diego in the early 1990s. As soon as I learned he was at the museum, I grabbed my much read Doubleday F-86 book and went over to the museum to get him to sign the book. He was gracious enough to spare some time to autograph the book and chat about his favorite subject. He hinted at the time that he needed to do another book or two on the Sabre and this issue is the result.

Part one is basically all about the aircraft, its design history, systems and various modifications. There are numerous illustrations from tech manuals as well as from North American archives on the prototypes and various test aircraft.

Within the 98 pages are also technical drawings as well as a full rundown on available F-86D/K/L model kits. Color in this volume is limited to the outside of the cardstock front and rear cover. If you have read any of Ginter's Naval books, you will find the format and presentation to be quite familiar.

Volume two will be on units and operational history. I can only hope that there will be a color section dedicated to the many colorful schemes worn by the Dog Sabre during its service career. However it is done, this and the following volume are highly recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in one of the first US no-gun interceptors.