Mystery RCAF Sabre marking…

I think it looks like a `scuff` mark from a servicing ladder/platform.

could be, I hadn’t really considered that – it just seems too ‘regular’…

Do you mean the “canopy handle”, used by the ground crew to open the canopy?

Would they use a servicing ladder when it has built in steps?

Too darn right. I once jumped down exiting from a Harrier cockpit, only to find my right foot wouldn’t disengage from the lower “rat trap” step and the first thing to contact the ground was my head. Result Peterborough hospital.

It got sillyer when one of the nurses thought I’d fallen out of an aeroplane (airborne).

John

I think it looks like a `scuff` mark from a servicing ladder/platform.

Would they use a servicing ladder when it has built in steps?

There seems to be a similar mark about .5 meter’s to the right of the original one. would the ground crew be expected to use the foot traps to do their thing ? it certainly looks like a ladder rest mark.

not sure, but just to make sure that everyone is looking at the same item I’ve been pondering…. here’s my original crop (notated) as well as a closer crop on the marking in question.

and… in case anyone is wondering, this is Sabre 23135 – the original uncropped photo was used in Dan Dempsey’s “A Tradition of Excellence – Canada’s Airshow Team Heritage” (2nd Edition – 2007)

Looking again, what I’ve posted now as a ‘recrop’ is not a ladder scuff – it’s definitely some kind of marking.
JJ

Somewhere in the dim darks of my memory I think I have seen that on some French aircraft and it is their symbol for an ejection seat warning – Canadian aircraft have that bilingual requirement.

I found this…..

It’s cropped from a CF-100 photo. The is ladder is resting on the ejection seat marking.

nice find Mike… but, the biggest prob I have with the ‘ejection seat’ warning symbol is that the RCAF/CAF Sabres didn’t seem to have worn that symbol in that position – hence my wondering… those Canadian Sabres I’ve seen with the ‘appropriate’ ejector warning symbol anywhere near this location, have only carried the red triangle “danger, danger, danger Ejector(ion) seat” marking approximately 1 Meter aft of the indicated position (closer to the leading edge of the canopy in the open position)

For some reason, I want to believe that this may actually be a local emblem (Chatham NB and area) and not an actual warning or service symbol.

I found this…..

It’s cropped from a CF-100 photo. The is ladder is resting on the ejection seat marking.

Looks a bit like Betty Boop to me..

Looks a bit like Betty Boop to me..

I think your close: To me it looks like a “can-can dancer”. She is bent over looking from the back to the front. You can make see her high heel shoes, the lower leg (calf) and ruffeled underwear and head dress.

I think your close: To me it looks like a “can-can dancer”. She is bent over looking from the back to the front. You can make see her high heel shoes, the lower leg (calf) and ruffeled underwear and head dress.

yess…. :rolleyes: – the old simplified lightbulb drawing, which is the woman washing her feet in a basin???

Somewhere in the dim darks of my memory I think I have seen that on some French aircraft and it is their symbol for an ejection seat warning – Canadian aircraft have that bilingual requirement.

I know where you’re coming from – the ‘exploding’ canopy outline as usually seen on Mirages (although Turkey did apply the same icons to their Sabres) That symbol has never been used by the RCAF/CAF/CF.

As far as the bilingualism, even today service/emergency stenciling was/is unilingual English. All Canadian aircraft whether RCAF or Canadian Armed Forces or Canadian Forces were/are stenciled in English (aside from the ‘national’ titling). It is not and has never been a requirement to have bilingual stenciling.

A step into the Sabre

Having looked through ‘The Canadair Sabre’ by Larry Milberry (CANAV BOOKS)
the following information was obtained. Examining the aircraft mentioned is impossible! The US Army crashed it on landing at White Sands 22/5/79 where it was used as a Drone:eek:. But photos of a Sabre 3 at Edwards US Airforce experimental base where Canadair provided the pilot Jacqueline Cochran with an aircraft for the fastest womans speed record (670 mph was her fastest!) show Canadair provided a step. Was it a one off for this mission? In the book there is no other picture showing a step that I can see. Also ejection seat warnings are conspicuous by there absence.:confused: