In 1959 Canada would celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the 50th (Golden) anniversary of powered flight in Canada. So the aerobatic team the Golden Hawks was formed and equipped with the Canadair Sabre Mk. 5. The Golden Hawks created several maneuvers still used today. The team flew the Mk. 5 Sabre until 1961 when they switched to the Mk. 6. Because of political financial reasons the Golden Hawks were disbanded on February 7, 1964 and had performed 317 shows.
The North American F-86 Sabre was manufactured from 1949 -1956 and was America's first swept-wing fighter. As well as being built in the U.S. variants were built in Canada and Australia bringing the total of all variants manufactured to 9,860 units. During the Korean War the Sabre arrived to take on the other swept-wing aircraft of the conflict, the MiG-15 Fagot. The Americans claim they shot down 792 MiGs while only losing 78 Sabres, a 10:1 victory ratio which is greatly disputed.