F-106 In Vietnam ?

Might anyone know why the Delta Dart, with
its performance and relative agility, wasn’t
selected for CAP missions, particularly as
escort fighter for the Thunderchiefs in Vietnam ?

I’m sure it would have performed far better
with resultant immeasurable lives saved, rather
than the ungainly Phantom. Very certainly far
more MiGs would have been shot down.

Not to belittle the F-4, which more than did a
really good job in Vietnam, but it was really
an overworked multirole workhorse not designed
specifically for the air superiority role.

That 24,500 pound thrust J75 turbojet in the F-106
rather than the heavy F-105 would sure have made a
hell of a dogfighter.