I was thinking about something else: Did Soviet / Communist Bloc air-defenses all operate up high, or some operate at moderate to low altitudes? It seems silly but they had a numerical superiority to our aircraft and could take certain liberties we couldn't as a result.
The aircraft we had for nuclear strike were often painted silver colors pre Vietnam: While it seems part of it trailed back to WWII in an effort to increase performance, it also proved a reflective surface for the flash of a nuclear-bomb. That said, such a surface is prone to produce glint, which can sometimes be seen beyond the distance the aircraft can be normally spotted (I remember a case where a pilot in Vietnam was involved in aerial combat and noticed a glint, and realized it was a MiG and turned into it -- up to that point, he had no idea it was there), and if we were flying in the weeds, they might have been able to pick up such a glint, and dive onto it.
While the F-105 was so fast at low altitude that they might not have had much anything to catch it, the F-84, F-86, F3H, and A4D were subsonic aircraft at low altitude, far as I know, and would be catchable. While I'm pretty sure the USAF would probably send the highest performers through first to pave out the way for the less capable performers, and the bombers, there would likely be some fighters up in the air that would be real ticked off their base and stuff was being blown up.
The aircraft we had for nuclear strike were often painted silver colors pre Vietnam: While it seems part of it trailed back to WWII in an effort to increase performance, it also proved a reflective surface for the flash of a nuclear-bomb. That said, such a surface is prone to produce glint, which can sometimes be seen beyond the distance the aircraft can be normally spotted (I remember a case where a pilot in Vietnam was involved in aerial combat and noticed a glint, and realized it was a MiG and turned into it -- up to that point, he had no idea it was there), and if we were flying in the weeds, they might have been able to pick up such a glint, and dive onto it.
While the F-105 was so fast at low altitude that they might not have had much anything to catch it, the F-84, F-86, F3H, and A4D were subsonic aircraft at low altitude, far as I know, and would be catchable. While I'm pretty sure the USAF would probably send the highest performers through first to pave out the way for the less capable performers, and the bombers, there would likely be some fighters up in the air that would be real ticked off their base and stuff was being blown up.
