three forward areas to ensure that all
F-102s were combat-ready. This made
it unnecessary to rotate the birds back
to Clark every two weeks. These teams
also included quality control and eld
maintenance specialists who brought
along all the necessary supplies and
equipment, so there was no delay
when certain items were needed to
complete the job.Training for war
Capt Bill McDonald, a high-timer in
the F-102, recalls those early days at
Tan Son Nhut. ‘After a slow start, the
training missions intensi ed. [These
were] night, low-altitude, slow-moving
target interception sorties and most of
these missions were against [DHC] L-20
Beavers. The North Vietnamese
were ying low-and-slow
night-time replenishment
missions and we had to get
on the same level as their
airplanes were ying. These
missions were considered
hazardous due to the extreme
speed di erence betweenThe Da Nang, Bangkok and Tan Son
Nhut deployments each required six
aircraft and crews to be on alert 24
hours a day. By late September, the
509th had 22 pilots deployed to South-
east Asia. This put a strain on those left
at Clark, leaving only 16 pilots to handle
the usual alert and training duties. The
average working week for pilots was
about 128 hours, which included 93
hours on alert. Time o was non-existent
during the nal four months of the year.Because of the large number of
aircraft and crews deployed, it became
increasingly di cult to rotate the F-102s
back to Clark on a bi-weekly basis,
as had been done during Operation
‘Belltone’. Lt Col J. B. Burdick, chief of
maintenance for the 405th TFW, came
up with a workable plan for maintaining
combat-ready F-102s in South-east Asia.
Highly skilled maintenance teams
were assembled at Clark approximately
every 15 days and dispatched to theMain image:
A 64th FIS F-102
assigned to the
defense of Da
Nang in August
1968, being
readied for missile
loading.
James Cobb via
author
Inset: Capt Bob
Donaldson (in
cockpit) and Maj
Milton Beers pose
on the fl ight line.
Both served with
the 509th FIS
at Don Muang,
Thailand.
Bob Donaldson
via author58-64 F-102 Vietnam C.indd 59 21/06/2018 13:55