F-86D # 52-3623, 8 July 1957, in the Catalina Mountains.

History of Flight:  A flight of three F-86D Sabre-dogs stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB with the 15th Fighter Interceptor Squadron were joining up in formation high up over the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.  As the pilots were attempting to form their arrow-formation, there was some confusion on each man's position.  At 24,000 feet, Lt. Van Vliet, of #52-3623, was trying to fill the right-wing position, not realizing Lt. Onate was already there.  As Lt. Van Vliet pulled up, his tail section struck the belly of Lt. Onate's F-86, #52-3605, sending both aircraft into and upward pitch and rendering both Sabre-dogs uncontrollable.  

The flight leader observed the collision and instructed the pilots to bail out.  They landed safely a half-mile apart from each other in a remote  area of the densely-wooded forest, separated by a deep canyon.  They were rescued the next morning after spending the night in a thunderstorm on the mountain. 

Lt. Van Vliet's aircraft came down near Mt. Bigelow and the Butterfly Trail, where wreckage is scattered over 100 yards down the side of a slope.  Lt Onate's aircraft had simply disappeared and wasn't found by the crash investigators.  Three months later, a rancher in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, called the Air Force to report he had a mysterious crash on his grazing land.  Amazingly, the autopilot had corrected the Sabre-dog after Lt. Onate ejected and continued on its easterly  course before crashing 350 miles away!.