F-86 Sabre and MiG-15 "Fagot" (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The American F-86 Sabre and the Russian MiG-15 "Fagot" were the classic combat duo during the time period when theCold War first turned hot and fighting broke out in Korea.

The Sabre and the MiG both used innovations developed during World War Two by the Germans, and initially they were even powered by American and Russian versions of the same British-designed Rolls Royce Nene jet engine!   Not surprisingly, both aircraft were evenly matched in terms of performance, the Sabre being able to out-turn and out-dive the MiG, and the MiG being better in the climb and absolute ceiling.   The Sabre's eventual kill ratio of roughly 10:1 over the MiG is widely credited to the superior training of the American pilots, rather than the superiority of the Sabre itself.