"Bill Shatzer" wrote in message
...

On 7 Mar 2004, Hal Lillywhite wrote:

Bill Shatzer wrote in message
...

from a book I just happen to have handy:

The Delta Dagger was the first interceptor to be delivered as a
complete
weapons system - the weapons, the electronic equipment, and the plane
itself functioned as a unit. The F-102 could be flown remotely
through
its Remote Control Flight System (RCFS). All the pilot had to do was
take off and land the plane; the technical experts on the ground took
care of the rest. During emergencies and under certain operational
circumstances, the pilot had overriding capabilities.

Still confident, Hal?

Yup. Your quotation says *nothing* about actually engaging the enemy
under remote control. It's one thing to direct an aircraft remotely
in normal flight, quite another to direct it in the combat environment
where the target is evasive and well-armed, perhaps accompanied by
well-armed escorts. I already admited that it could be *flown*
remotely, the question is if it could effectively engage in combat
under remote control.

Well, with the SAGE system, the ground folks even pushed the
button for missile launch. I think the F-102 was upgraded
to the full SAGE system by the time the dubya was flying 'em
but I can't find a definitive reference. Still, the SAGE was
basically an RCFS system with a semi-automatic ground control
element introduced - rather than ground controllers telling the
aircraft where and how to fly, a computer took over most of those
functions.

But, in any case, what part of, "All the pilot had to do was take
off and land the plane; the technical experts on the ground took
care of the rest." is difficult to understand?

Ground control flies the a/c to the intercept point. If the
pilot has to push the button to arm the AIM-4, confirm that
the lock-on light is lit (or, he gets "tone", however it worked
with the AIM-4/F-102), and push the launch button or whether
that is down automatically from the ground makes little difference
in the level of pilot skill required.

You're not likely to find manuevering bombers over texas. They
lacked the fuel to do that. You're not going to find "well
armed bombers" over texas - Soviet bombers carried 'bout the
same armament as did US bombers of that era which is to say
a tail gun and that's about it (and as the range of an AIM-4
was five to ten miles (depending on the model) and the range
of aerial guns was less than half the smaller number, the
amount of bomber armament was more or less irrelevent - which
was why they didn't carry much. And you're definately not
going to find enemy escort fighters over texas.

But, this is an interesting diversion but it's pretty much
exhausted my interest. You may have the last word iffen you
want.

But still, the dubya flying F-102s was No Big Deal.

And attempts to turn him into some superman for so doing just
miss the mark completely.

No one is saying he's a superman, just that he had to have some sort of
smarts to make it through and train on an aircraft that was anything but
easy to fly.