On Tuesday, Chennault Aviation & Military Museum in Monroe, Louisiana welcomed a new arrival in the form of an F-86L Sabre.
The aircraft (S/N 53-01061) is said to have been acquired from a base in Crystal Springs, Mississippi by a local doctor many years back. He transported it to a VFW post along I-55 near Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where it has been on outdoor display since 1968. The post closed about a decade ago and the aircraft has since suffered from vandalism and continued exposure to the elements.
The museum reportedly went through a lengthy approval process in order to receive the Sabre and also launched coordination and fundraising efforts to relocate it. The machine will now be restored on museum grounds and displayed “on certified loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.”
The restoration will be performed by volunteers and is expected to take roughly a year and a half.
Click below to check out local news coverage and photos of its arrival.
(Chennault Aviation & Military Museum via MS News Now Photo: USAF via Wikimedia Commons)
