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F-102 in Vietnam
F-102 in Vietnam
It really bothers me that a coward like George W. Bush spent the Vietnam War training to fly old and
useless planes in Texas while John Kerry was heroically risking his life in combat and got three purple
- question from Jennifer Braun
George W. Bush's military service began in 1968 when he enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating
with a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University.
The aircraft he was ultimately trained to fly was the
, popularly known as "the Deuce."
The F-102 may have
been old but was far from useless, and it continued to serve in large numbers with both Air Force and Air National
Guard units well into the 1970s.
Furthermore, the F-102 was deployed to Vietnam throughout most of the conflict,
and the aircraft proved its value early by deterring North Vietnamese pilots from crossing the border to attack the
Perhaps more importantly, the F-102 and its Air National Guard pilots performed a vital role in defending
the continental United States from nuclear attack.
F-102 Delta Dagger
The F-102 was a supersonic second
designed in the early 1950s for the
US Air Force.
The primary mission of the aircraft was to intercept columns of Soviet nuclear bombers attempting to
reach targets in the US and destroy them with air-to-air missiles.
The technologies incorporated into the aircraft
were state-of-the-art for the day.
The F-102 set many firsts, including the first all-weather delta-winged combat
aircraft, the first fighter capable of maintaining supersonic speed in level flight, and the first interceptor to
have an armament entirely of missiles.
Among the many innovations incorporated into the design were the use of the
to reduce aerodynamic drag and an advanced electronic fire
control system capable of guiding the aircraft to a target and automatically launching its missiles.
The F-102 made its first flight in 1953 and entered service with the Air Defense Command (ADC) in 1956.
1,000 Delta Daggers were built making the type one of the most widely built fighters of its era.
supplemented by the related and improved , the F-102
remained one of the most important aircraft in the ADC through the mid-1960s.
At its peak, the Deuce made up
over half of the interceptors operated by the ADC and equipped 32 squadrons across the continental US.
Additional
squadrons were based in western Europe, the Pacific, and Alaska.
Internal weapons bays on the F-102 Delta Dagger
As the 1960s continued, many of these aircraft were transferred from the US Air Force to Air National Guard (ANG)
More than 500 Delta Daggers would eventually serve with 23 ANG units across the US, including squadrons in
Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North
Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Because of thier critical role in defending North America, these ANG units came under direct authority of the ADC
itself and were considered a vital component of the Air Force's strategy to defend the US.
One of the primary ANG units to receive the F-102 was the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at Ellington
Air National Guard Station, which operated the aircraft from 1960 through 1974.
These planes were given
responsibility for patrolling the Texas Gulf Coast and intercepting Soviet aircraft based in Cuba that regularly
flew off the US shore to test American defenses.
The 111th was and still is part of the
in Houston, Texas.
It was here that
George W. Bush was stationed following his enlistment in May 1968.
F-102 of the 111th FIS of the Texas ANG
The Air National Guard has often been ridiculed as a safe place for military duty during the Vietnam War.
pilots from the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, as it was called at the time, were actually conducting combat
missions in Vietnam when Bush enlisted.
Air Force F-102 squadrons had been stationed in Thailand since 1961 and
South Vietnam since March 1962.
It was during this time that the Kennedy administration began building up a large
US military presence in the region as a deterrent against North Vietnamese invasion.
USAF F-102 squadrons continued to be stationed in both nations throughout most of the Vietnam War.
Dagger was based at Tan Son Nhut, Bien Hoa, and Da Nang in South Vietnam and also stood alert at Don Muang and
Udorn in Thailand.
The planes were typically used for fighter defense patrols and as escorts for
bomber raids.
The F-102 was considered one of the most useful air
defense aircraft in theater because it had the fastest response time of any fighter stationed in South Vietnam.
Since North Vietnamese pilots generally avoided combat with their American counterparts, the F-102 had few
opportunities to engage in its primary role of air combat.
However, the Deuce was adapted for close air support
starting in 1965.
Delta Daggers armed with unguided rockets made attacks on Viet Cong encampments to harass enemy
soldiers, and the aircraft's heat-seeking air-to-air missiles were even used to lock onto enemy campfires at
Though the F-102 had not been designed for this type of combat, the plane was surprisingly effective and
pilots often reported secondary explosions coming from their targets.
An Aviation Week article of the
period credited the 509th FIS, an F-102 squadron stationed in Vietnam, with destroying 106 buildings, damaging 59
more, sinking 16 sampans, and destroying one bridge during 199 sorties over the course of 45 days.
manufacturer Convair proposed a series of upgrades to build upon these promising results and further improve the
design's ground attack capabilities, but the concept was dropped due to Air Force funding constraints.
Rows of F-102 fighters stationed at Tan Son Nhut in Vietnam in 1969
These close air support missions were also quite dangerous since they required low-level flight over armed ground
A total of 15 F-102 fighters were lost in Vietnam.
Three were shot down by anti-aircraft or small arms
fire, one was lost in air-to-air combat with a , four were
destroyed on the ground during Viet Cong mortar attacks, and the remainder succumbed to accidents.
Such accidents were commonplace even under peacetime conditions given the inherent risk to a pilot's life during
any flight aboard a high-performance military jet.
ANG members of the period who we've been able to locate
indicate that only highly qualified pilot candidates were accepted for Delta Dagger training because it was such a
challenging aircraft to fly and left little room for mistakes.
According to the Air Force Safety Center, the
lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, and the rate was
especially high during the early years of the plane's service.
This poor safety record may have been due in part to a deadly flaw in the aircraft's design that caused an engine
stall and loss of control under a certain combination of
and airspeed frequently encountered during takeoff.
According to a former F-102 pilot we've interviewed, this
problem caused the plane to roll inverted and resulted in several fatal crashes.
Numerous accidents were also
encountered during landing because of the plane's steep angle of attack and high airspeed that reduced the pilot's
visibility and reaction time.
These factors have traditionally been two of the primary disadvantages of delta
wing aircraft and explain why the pure delta wing design was later abandoned.
Today's delta wing aircraft are
typically equipped with
or canards and fly-by-wire
control systems that improve safety and performance.
Luckily, F-102 operators overcame these deficiencies thanks
to good pilot training and control lockouts that prevented the plane from reaching extreme conditions, and the
F-102 went on to become one of the safer fighters of its day.
Regardless, the F-102 was still far more dangerous to fly than today's combat aircraft.
Compared to the F-102's
lifetime accident rate of 13.69, today's planes generally average around 4 mishaps per 100,000 hours.
For example,
compare the
at 4.14, the
at 2.47, the
at 4.07, the
at 2.6, and the
Even the Marine Corps' ,
regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in US service today, has a lifetime accident rate of only 11.44 mishaps per
100,000 flight hours.
The F-102 claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during
Bush's tenure.
Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70
Air Force and ANG pilots.
Camouflaged F-102 interceptors on patrol over South Vietnam
While these accidents occurred during routine patrol and training flights, F-102 pilots endured further risk while
serving under combat conditions in Vietnam.
Some of these were Air National Guard pilots from the 147th FIG, where
Bush was stationed.
These ANG pilots served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970 through a volunteer program called
"Palace Alert."
Palace Alert was an Air Force program that sent qualified F-102 pilots from the ANG to bases in
Europe or southeast Asia for three to six months of frontline service.
This program was instituted because the Air
Force lacked sufficient pilots of its own for duty in Vietnam but was unable to activate ANG units since Presidents
Johnson and Nixon had decided not to do so for political reasons.
Thanks to Palace Alert, the Air Force was able
to transfer much-needed National Guard pilots to Vietnam on a voluntary basis while not actually calling up their
squadrons.
Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was also serving in the Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush inquired about
participating in Palace Alert.
However, the two were told by their flight instructor, Maj. Maurice Udell, that
they were not yet qualified since they were still in training and did not have the 500 hours of flight experience
Furthermore, ANG veteran Col. William Campenni, who was a fellow pilot in the 111th FIS at the time,
Palace Alert had stopped accepting new applicants before Bush would have been eligible.
After being accepted into the ANG, Airman Basic Bush was selected to attend pilot training even though his test
scores were the lowest acceptable for that position.
His six weeks of basic training was completed at Lackland AFB
in Texas during July and August of 1968.
Upon its completion, Bush was promoted to the officer's rank of second
lieutenant required for pilot candidates.
He spent the next year in flight school at Moody AFB in Georgia from
November 1968 to November 1969.
The aircraft Lt. Bush trained aboard were the T-41 Mescelero propeller-driven
basic trainer, T-37 Tweet primary jet trainer, and the
advanced jet trainer.
Bush ranked 22 out of 53 students in his flight school class with a grade of 88 on total
airmanship.
His scores included 100 for flying without navigational instruments, 89 in flight planning, and 98 in
aviation physiology.
Bush also completed two weeks of survival training during this period.
TF-102 trainer
Bush then returned to Ellington in Texas to complete seven months of combat crew training on the F-102 from
December 1969 to June 1970.
This period included five weeks of training on the T-33 Shooting Star and 16 weeks
aboard the TF-102 Delta Dagger two-seat trainer and finally the single-seat F-102A.
Bush graduated from the
training program in June 1970.
When interviewed by the
in February 2004, flight instructor Maj. Udell recalled that Lt. Bush was one of his best students saying
that, "I'd rank him in the top five percent."
As Bush was completing his training and being certified as a qualified pilot, there was always the possibility that
the ANG might be mobilized to send F-102 squadrons to Vietnam.
However, the F-102 had originally been stationed in
that theater to guard against the possibility of air attack from the North, a danger that never materialized since
North Vietnamese pilots refused to stray south of the border and outside their own protective SAM barrier.
lack of a threat prompted the Air Force to gradually withdraw the F-102 from southeast Asia beginning in December
1969 and concluding in May 1971.
The F-102 was instead returned to its primary role of providing air defense for
the United States.
This vital mission had been almost entirely transferred to the ANG by that time since the Air
Force had become increasingly tasked with its overseas responsibilities in Europe and Asia.
Ellington, where Bush was stationed, has remained a National Guard air defense base until the present day.
early 1970s, however, the facility also took on an additional duty as the only training base for all ANG F-102
pilots in the United States, including some 15 or so squadrons at the time.
Lt. Bush remained in the Texas ANG as
a certified F-102 pilot who participated in frequent drills and alerts through April of 1972.
It appears that he
remained on air defense alert since he did not meet the minimum of 1,000 flying hours needed to become an F-102
pilot instructor.
Bush had over 600 flight hours when he left the Guard, and 278 of these were aboard the F-102
and TF-102.
F-102 Delta Dagger and F-101 Voodoo interceptors of the Texas ANG
By this time, the 147th Fighter Wing was also beginning to phase out the F-102 in the air defense role in favor of
F-101B and F-101F two-seat long-range interceptors.
As the Ellington F-102 fleet was transitioned to training or
retired from service, the F-101 took its place as the primary air defense fighter for the Texas ANG.
received its first F-101 in May 1971 and its final F-102 was retired in August 1974.
The F-102 remained in use
with several other units until 1976 when the 199th FIS of the Hawaii ANG finally concluded the long and proud
service of the Deuce.
Bush was honorably discharged from the Air National Guard in October 1973 at the rank of first lieutenant.
physical dated 15 May 1971 indicates that he had logged 625 flight hours by that time, and he ultimately completed
326 hours as pilot and 10 as co-pilot while serving with the 111th FIS in Texas.
In the fall of 1973, Bush began
coursework at the Harvard Business School where he received an MBA in 1975.
George W. Bush during his service with the Air National Guard
This article has relied on a number of print sources and first-hand accounts.
Particularly informative in
describing the history and military service of the F-102 Delta Dagger has been the fantastic book}