{"id":36,"date":"2023-01-24T21:45:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T21:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/cakes-tarts\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T14:47:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:47:37","slug":"ufo-f-86-national-guard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/ufo-f-86-national-guard\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing UFO&#8217;s over LA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"397\" height=\"271\" src=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image006.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image006.jpg 397w, https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image006-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 397px) 100vw, 397px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert H. Starr in the Cockpit of an F-86 Sabre Jet. The F-86 was fastest aircraft the Air National Guard had in 1954.  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Chasing UFO&#8217;s in the F-86 Sabre Jet<strong> <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">In 1954, Robert H. Starr joined the California Air National Guard, flying the sleek      North American <strong>P-51H Mustang<\/strong> before transitioning to the legendary <strong>F-86 Sabre<\/strong>     jet  which he would later call the finest and fastest he ever flew.  During a year on     active duty with the Air Defense Mission, Starr helped guard the skies over Southern <br>California. The radar stations located along the offshore islands tracked unidentified                  aircraft, known as \u201cbogies\u201d.  When something unusual appeared on radar, Sabre jets were scrambled to quickly intercept. Starr had heard the stories. Now he wanted his own.<br>One such mission delivered.  Ground radar reported an anomaly stationary at 50,000   feet over Los Angeles. Starr and his wingman flew toward the bogie at full throttle.  Their jets climbed through 37,000 feet where they reported visual contact.  Ahead of them hovered a cigar-shaped object, no wings, no exhaust, and no visible means of propulsion.  The bogie just was &#8216;parked&#8217; motionless against the cold blue sky.<br>As they closed in, the object brightened, shifted slightly, and then accelerated away with astonishing speed. In less than 15 seconds, it had vanished from sight. Ground             control confirmed the quick movement out of radar range.<br>Starr would experience several such intercepts during that year. For a pilot trained in performance limits, climb rates, and aerodynamics, what Starr and his wingman had witnessed defied conventional explanation. For him, the conclusion was simple and profound: humans may not be the only creators of mechanized flight. Call it <strong>UFO<\/strong> or <strong>UAP<\/strong>, we are not alone in this vast universe.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"646\" height=\"497\" data-id=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UFO-restore.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UFO-restore.jpg 646w, https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UFO-restore-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">My First UFO circa 1955<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"292\" height=\"409\" data-id=\"82\" src=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image008.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-82\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image008.jpg 292w, https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image008-214x300.jpg 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Post Mission Walk Around F-86<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">In 1954 I was presented with a certificate of membership in the <strong>Mach Buster&#8217;s Club <\/strong>by North American Aviation, Inc. for having flown the F-86 Sabre Jet faster than the   speed of sound. &nbsp;That aircraft was pure power and it was a thrill to fly it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"877\" height=\"711\" src=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Mach-buster.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-79\" srcset=\"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Mach-buster.jpg 877w, https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Mach-buster-300x243.jpg 300w, https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Mach-buster-768x623.jpg 768w, https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Mach-buster-600x486.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 877px) 100vw, 877px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chasing UFO&#8217;s in the F-86 Sabre Jet In 1954, Robert H. Starr joined the California Air National Guard, flying the sleek North American P-51H Mustang before transitioning to the legendary F-86 Sabre jet which he would later call the finest and fastest he ever flew. During a year on active duty with the Air Defense [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"hide_page_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-36","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":75,"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":453,"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions\/453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldssmallestairplane.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}