On 7/7/53 the F-86A #49-1267 flown by an instructor and the F-86E #51-12980 flown by a student were involved in a mid-air collision during gunnery practice near Nellis Air Force Range. The instructor was killed in the accident while the student was able to parachute to safety. Both pilots were assigned to the 3596th Combat Crew Training Squadron out of Nellis AFB.

On this trip, I was able to find wreckage from The F-86E and maybe some of the wreckage from the F-86A.

On the dirt road that leads to where I'll be starting the hike from.

Left home at 4:30am and 6 hours later I'm here, enough driving, time to hike.

Making my way up. The slope here is about 45 degrees, the camera makes it look steeper.

First piece of wreckage I came upon was this tubing with AN fittings.

A little further up was a tail section.

It has the lower half of the fin and one of the stabs still attached. The control surfaces are gone. Lot of yellow paint to mark it as a known crash site.

Could make out the numbers 980 on the side.

Another view shows some of the other wreckage in the area.

Tail end