WOW it does seem that the later F-86 models did carry missiles..
Many F-86F-40 Sabres could carry AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles. The AIM-9B was also known as the GAR-8 missile. It required adding two Aero 3B missile launchers to the F-86 by special pylons bolted under the wing inside the inboard hardpoints. The MM-9B missile was nine feet long, five inches wide in diameter and weighed 155 pounds. It operated on a passive, infrared (IR) homing principle. The missile was aimed by the AA gunsight. The IR seeker head generated a "ready" tone in the pilot's headset, (not unlike a rattlesnake's buzz, hence the name, Sidewinder), telling the pilot the missile had detected the target and was receiving a homing signal. The AIM-9 is still in production today although the models for the 1990s are the AIM-9L through -9R. They now weigh about 190 pounds and have a range of ten miles with a maximum speed of over Mach two. The Sidewinder has been called "the most influential and successful weapon of its type ever built." (Warplane Magazine, August/September 1989).
One F-86F-40, serial number 55-3816, was tested carrying four Century rocket pods beneath each wing. One last F-86F, serial number 52-4608, was equipped with a Rocketdyne AR2-3 rocket motor beneath its fuselage. This added 6,000 pounds more thrust. This Sabre climbed to 30,000 feet in 24 seconds! F-86Fs eventually equipped eight squadrons of the Air Defense Command in addition to those assigned to the Tactical Air Command. The ADC F86Fs were phased out by early 1955, and by the end of the year, TAC was replacing its "F"s with the F-86H. Some F86Fs went to the Air National Guard, but most were reassigned beginning in 1954 under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program to other nations where they flew well into the last quarter of the century. The F-86F was flown in several wars by other nations and fought successfully against the MiG-15, -17, -19 and -21. Several F-86Fs were modified for Korea and flew with cameras as RF4~6Fs with the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing and later with Nationalist China. Some "F"s were later modified into radio controlled target planes and redesignated QF-86F. Some QF-86Fs were flown by the U.S. Army, and several are flown today by the U.S. Navy for missile tests. Of all F-86 models produced, the "F" survives in the greatest numbers today.
By the early 1950's, air-to-air missiles began to be added to the arsenal of fighter aircraft weapons, initially supplementing machine guns and eventually overtaking them in importance. Rockets under development were based on the German-designed R-24 air-to-air rocket that had been used against Allied bombers during the Second World War. The rockets that evolved from this development program were designated the 2.75 inch Folding Fin Aircraft Rocket (FFAR). The rockets had an effective range of about 2,000 yards and a high explosive warhead. Several fighter aircraft were armed with these rockets, including the North American F-86D with an under fuselage retractable tray containing 24 FFARs, and the Lockheed F-94C with 24 FFARs in the nose.
