The F102A was not a "full automatic flying system" like the later F106
was. I graduated from the F102a Interceptor Weapons School at Tyndall
AFB and was weapons training officer in 2 F102 squadrons - 326 and 332
FISs. I was also an F102 maintenance test pilot. As for being easy to
fly as an airplane - yes, with a caveat. That was: don't get into a
slow speed descent near the ground, as in a dragged-in final. A few
pilots ended up wiping out the gear because they initially pulled back
on the stick to 'stretch the glide' a bit and all that did was raise
the nose, increase the AOA, send induced drag (and sink rate)skyhigh
and by the time they realized what was happening even full afterburner
wasn't enough thrust to break their rate of descent. Splat! And the
Deuce's notoriously weak gear wouldn't take much of a jolt. 540 FPM
was the red-line sink rate. The SAGE system was not coupled to the
Deuce's autopilot. The pilot followed a SAGE steering dot on the radar
scope and a target marker circle indicated where the SAGE computer
thought the target was. Sometimes it was in there, sometimes not. Two
small dials on the left side of the instrument pane communicated
SAGE-commanded fighter Mach and target altitude. Granted, the MG10
fire control system computer normally delivered the fire signal for
missiles and rockets but the pilot had to hold the trigger depressed
waiting for the computer to make up its mind. The autopilot had an
attack mode wherein it steered the aircraft according to the fire
control system's commands in both missile and rocket mode - I do not
know of anyone who ever used it. There are several good reasons why
not - tactical requirements for missile attack being one, safety
during a rocket pass being the other. The FCS/autpilot couldn't care
less about target crossing angle - and the closer you were to a
head-on or up the kilt attack the less the miss distance, finally
degrading to about 16 feet - in the vertical plane. Most likely that
would not be not survivable. Attitude, altitude and heading hold modes
were handy especially when having to replan the flight. Approach mode
was there but most pilots including me preferred to hand-fly the ILS.
I once and once only employed the automatic approach when not required
by the test sheets. Upon detecting the glide path the autopilot
pitched up about 30 degrees nose-high for it, not a nice thing when
the gear is already down and the airspeed is a sedate 150 knots. Now,
there were some facets of the Deuce's employment guaranteed to raise
the pulse level. An ID pass in the weather, especially at night; any
low altitude intercept at night, especially over the ocean, below 1000
feet clearance height. Calls for split attention to work the radar and
simultaneously fly precision instruments at speed and lastly avoid
ramming the bogey. Not everybody was successful.
Walt BJ