the target and the fighter, compounded
by very short-range contacts caused by
ground return interference.
‘Several modifications were made
locally to the radar at this time to aid
us in low-altitude target acquisition.
These changes were later adopted
across the entire F-102 fleet. Scuttlebutt
around the squadron had it that we
were training to shoot down North
Vietnamese An-2 ‘Colt’ supply airplanes
that were known to be dropping much-
needed equipment to the enemy.’
Ordnance loads carried by the Delta
Daggers in the Far East were an AIM-26BFalcon air-to-air missile in the front
bay, three AIM-4C air-to-air missiles in
the rear bay and 12 2.75in rockets. This
combination was used at Clark, Da Nang
and Tan Son Nhut. The detachment
at Bangkok, however, used a slightly
different set-up with three AIM-4As in the
front bay and two AIM-4C/Ds plus another
AIM-4A in the rear bay. The Falcon series of
missiles had a speed of Mach 4 at a range
of six miles and gave the F-102 a greater
capacity for knocking down anything that
should come up to challenge it.
Capt Robert Mock describes some of
the missions he flew during late 1964and early 1965. ‘We were under the radar
control of the GCI [ground-controlled
intercept] site at Monkey Mountain,
which would receive its orders from 2nd
Air Division in Saigon. If there was any
indication of an unknown [aircraft] over
North Vietnam, we were scrambled. We
were very good at getting airborne in less
than three minutes, from long hours on
the alert facility.
‘We would also intercept airliners that
had strayed off course and, due to the
climate, terrible weather [flying] was
soon our specialty. Many times I flew
an ILS [instrument landing system] finalAbove:
A maintainer
services the liquid
oxygen as he
prepares a jet for
alert duty at Don
Muang in January
1962.
Bill McDonald
via author
Below: The 509th
FIS F-102s were
painted with a
tiger head on the
forward fuselage
at Don Muang
during 1962.
Bill McDonald
via authorGLORY DAYS // F-102s IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
60 August 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
58-64 F-102 Vietnam C.indd 60 21/06/2018 13:55