"David E. Powell" wrote in message
s.com...
OK. I have seen the debate over GWB as an F-102 pilot, so I was wondering
about a couple of things.

First, was the F-102 taken out of service in the early 1970s?

The last one left ANG service in 1976, though they had finsished their
operational role in 1975.

I have to ask
because as a kid I remember the Guard around here flying F-106s up to
around
1990 or 1991 or so, and they were closely related to the F-102. Though I
recall them being (much) faster. Mach 1.8 vs. Mach 2.32 IIRC.

Second, if GWB was trained on the F-102, and had asked about other planes,
would he have been assigned to the -106 or was Texas going to a different
fighter?

You don't normally "ask" about other planes, you fly the aircraft assigned
to your unit. As another poster has mentioned, his unit transitioned to the
F-101.

The program wher Guard piolts were flying in Vietnam was mentioned,
and the USAF turning him down because the USAF was phasing out the -102.

No, the reason he was not accepted was that they had plenty of more
experienced F-102 pilots available at that time, and they were taking the
most experienced volunteers. A couple of years after this, the situation had
apparently changed, and an ANG F-102 pilot (2LT type) from Palace Alert flew
the last F-102 intercept of a Bear out of Iceland. Palace Alert was not
limited to sending F-102 pilots to Vietnam or Thailand--it provided pilots
to various F-102 operating locations.

I
guess the time needed to retrain the guy on another type would have
prohibited him making the cutoff date? Makes sense, though, and the USAF
forces in the area could have been phasing out the -102 (which was more
suited as a bomber interceptor for CONUS defense than dogfighting) earlier
than counterparts in the US or Europe.

Third. did the F-102 have a gun or just internal missiles in a weapon bay?

No gun, just internal mounted Falcon AAM's and a few 2.75 inch unguided
FFAR's in tubes withing the weapons bay doors.

The F-106, as I recall, carried Falcon missiles (Or GENIEs*) and later had
a
20mm Vulcan cannon installed as well.

Yep.

Brooks


Fourth, the F-102 and F-106 just look cool. Had to say that. Good designs,
and you can see the evolution in fuselage flow in the later design.
(Though
the previous one had those cool mini-cones at the tail.)


DEP

*There was a massive "Was GENIE a rocket or a missile" debate on another
group, which I won't get into here. I think the verdict was a rocket,
which
it was, guided missile or not.