Latest in Red Pepper Creative's Aircraft Films series is this new DVD on the F-86 Sabre. It comprises two DVD discs and retails for $24.99.

Disc One contains a 43-minute main feature on the F-86, and rather than try (and possibly fail) to document every aspect of the history of the Sabre, it is broken down into 8 chapters, each dealing with a key area. Each of these chapters is then narrated by individuals that were actually involved. Chapter 1 is in fact a short excerpt of the Skyblazers F-86F aerobatic team, and though brief, it sets the tone nicely; the sharp picture quality and unusual subject is typical of the whole production. Chapter 2 details the early development of the Sabre, plus information on the deployment to Korea. Commentary is by noted NAA Tech Rep John Henderson, who accompanied the Sabres to Korea in late 1950. Three following chapters then concentrate mainly on the Korean theatre ('Taegu 1951' with Lon Walter, 'Fighter Bombers' with Jack Simpson & Ivan Holhausen and 'Kimpo 1953' with John Lowery narrating); the excellent film coverage dovetails nicely into the informative narration. Notably, on all occasions, the pictures reflect what we are hearing - a nice touch that is often not present on other F-86 presentations I have seen. The main feature is then rounded off with some very nice - and unusual - chapters on Wheelus detachments (commentary by Joe Williams), the Taiwan Crisis of 1958 (RoCAF pilot Mike Chien) and the Sabre Dog (Art Benjamin). The Taiwan feature is particularly notable, as it shows 44th Fighter Squadron F-86Fs being armed with Sidewinder missiles; the film quality as ever, is excellent.

That, however, is not the end of disc one. You also get a 200-photo slideshow of various F-86 shots. Some are fairly commonly-seen images, but the majority are real rarities, and all are very well presented. Then you get a video tour around a preserved North Carolina ANG F-86L, and this I am sure will be of great use to modellers. It does coincidentally show what a tremendous job of restoration the crew has done on this machine. Three 1950s documentaries then follow, comprising 'The Fighting 51st', a 30-minute documentary on the Wing's involvement in the Korean War, 'Warning Red', which details the early warning system in CONUS and shows some nice shots of 93rd FIS F-86As, and finally, 'No Sweat', my personal favourite. 'No Sweat' is a light-hearted USAFE flight safety film of an F-86D pilot, showing how accidents can be caused by slipshod flight planning and flying. The aircraft involved is a 496th FIS F-86D, and the camera work is stunning.

Disc Two comes under three headings; General, Korea and The MiG. 'General' contains a number of short film excerpts, ranging from clips of the first flight of the XP-86 and F-86E, and test flights on the YF-86D to footage of the 1951 Bendix Race and a Wright-Patterson ARDC presentation on Negative 'g'. There are then silent film sequences of the dedication of 48th 'Statue of Liberty' Wing and a scramble sequence by 527th FBS F-86Fs. Rounding out this heading is a wonderful colour film of one of Bob Hoover's F-86F demonstration flights. That the aircraft in question is a Philippine AF F-86F just makes it more special.

'Korea' follows a similar theme, with ace interviews and footage from various locations at a variety of dates. There is also a rarely-seen colour documentary on the Project GunVal F-86F - another gem. However, for me the real 'star' is 43 minutes of F-86 gun camera footage, mainly from Korea, but also including Taiwanese intercepts. To cap it all off, many of the pieces of footage are introduced by date, pilot name, etc. This is a really nice touch, and enables one to compare the aces with those less gifted. There are also some GunVal cannon Sabres in amongst this lot, and the weight of fire put in by those machines needs to be seen.

Final part on Disc Two is 'The MiG', and this starts off with 'We Flew the MiG', a documentary on the evaluation at Kadena of the first MiG-15 which was flown to Kimpo by its defecting pilot in 1953. Further excerpts of this machine are then shown when it had arrived at Wright-Patterson as well as further footage of another MiG-15 that defected to South Korea in 1960. The 'MiG' presentation is rounded off by film of a Russian airshow as well as the 1949 May Day parade, which heralded the type to the West.

From the aforementioned, it can be seen that Red Pepper Creative has really crammed the material onto these discs. Most of the films on them originate from the National Archives, and are being released to the general public for the first time. The way that they are put together and narrated shows that a great deal of care and thought has gone into this production. It is not only an exemplary work on the F-86, but also one of the best aircraft DVDs I have yet seen. And at $24.99 it is also very reasonably priced. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to all. *****