[tanknetter]

The F-102 was a pure interceptor. Because it couldn’t really perform the fighter-bomber mission it was of little use. Once the USAF realized that there weren’t going to be swarms of MiGs flying over South Vietnam the few that were over there were withdrawn.

Not true. The F-102 was a pretty stable platform and had a latent air-to-mud capability with the 2.75" unguided rockets it carried (ostensibly for shooting Soviet bombers out of the sky using salvo fire). To wit:

"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 night. 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. The 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."

More info here

[Tallguy]

Thanks for the correction. I’m sure that you will agree that, FFARs aside, the aircraft pretty much lacked the ability to carry the other weapons that fighter-bombers of the day carried as a matter of course.

F-102’s were also used to escort the BUFFs for a time. During one such mission a Deuce was lost to a MiG-21. Most of the F-102s in Vietnam were lost to groundfire. So the rocket runs were the reason for the losses, apparently.