Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for your kind words. I appreciate them. As a result of the mishap my uncle endured while flying a Sabre, I have a great affinity and respect for the aircraft and all who flew her. Seeing the Sabre Pilots Book of Rememberance at the RCAF Museum in Trenton, Ontario along with the cairn engraved with the names of the 107 RCAF pilots who lost their lives flying the Sabre operationally or in training is truly humbling.
jkar - the main differences between the USAF and RCAF Sabres are slight, yet somewhat significant. Externally, there is very little to distinguish an RCAF and USAF Sabre. The F-86E and the Canadair Sabre 2 and 4 are virtually identical. The only significant differences between these two models is that the RCAF Sabres had no raised area around the vent on the spine of the aircraft at the base of the veritcal stabilizer. This carried on through the Sabre 4's, 5's and 6's.
There were also differences in the placement of some of the instruments on the IP. The Canadair Sabres had a large gyro compass and oversized artificial horizon on the middle right of the IP.
As Thuens noted, Canadair and the RCAF placed 'sugar scoop' intakes on the two vents on the bottom of the Sabre 6's just behind the wing root. Most Sabre 5's were retrofitted with this vent as it improved airflow to promote better cooling of the engine.
The F-86F-30 and -40 continued to use the GE J-47 rated at 5,910 lbs thrust while fuselage of the Sabre 5 and Sabre 6 were slight redesigned to carry the Orenda 10 (6,355 lbs thrust - Sabre 5) and the Orenda 14 (7,275 lbs thrust - Sabre 6) making them the best performing Sabres ever built.
The wings on the F-86F-30 and the Sabre 5 were identical in that they were non slatted and featured a wing fence along the leading edge. The wings on the F-86F-40 and Sabre 6 were both fitted with leading edge slats. The original production run of Sabre 6's were hard winged before being retrofitted with slatted wings. The F-40 had the wings extended 12 inches between the end of the leading edge slat and the aileron and the wingtip. The Sabre 6 had no such extension and the aileron was the rear part of the wingtip. This bit by Jennings Helig is a great reference for Sabre wings:
https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1472&bih=743&q=f-86f-40+wing&oq=f-86f-40+wing&gs_l=img.12...2565.7113.0.8748.13.7.0.6.6.0.148.696.5j2.7.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.8.696.23GqKPGzN1Y#imgrc=6oi3K99MNn21kM%3A
These are the major difference between Canadair and North American built Sabres. The original licence granted by North American to Canadair to build the Sabres stated that virtually everything in the Sabre 2 and F-86E had to be interchangable and they were pretty much manufactured using the same parts, including the original J-47 engines built by GE and inported into Canada to be fitted into the Sabre 2's. My uncle's Canadair Sabre 2, s/n 19365, was fitted with GE J-47 s/n 067264 at the time of his crash.
In short, looking at Canadair and North American built Sabres, they're virtually identical. These are a few of the major changes to look for to tell the difference between the two makes. Hope this helps. :)
Mike