Hobby Master Archive

On March 21, 1962 under Project “Water Glass” the first operational deployment to Vietnam of F-102’s took place and remained there under Project “Candy Machine”. In March of 1962 F-102' s of the 509th FIS were sent on Temporary Duty (TDY) to Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon as well as from Da Nang, South Vietnam (at the time) and Don Muang (Thailand). In 1968 Da Nang was the busiest airport in the world with just under 2,600 daily air traffic operations. The Deuces (F-102) were used as interceptors, some escort duty, and even ground attack. In December of 1969 the F-102’s were withdrawn from Vietnam and at that time had lost 15 aircraft to AAA, destroyed on the ground by the Viet Cong, small arms fire and operational accidents.