Which was the better suited aircraft during the Vietnam war?
Without a doubt the F-4C Wild Weasel. It was the most capable of the breed used in that conflict in number. When someone says "Wild Weasel" and "SEA" the F-105 is often the first thing that comes to mind, because the F-4C arrived so late, but the F-4C Weasel was the best of them.
The F-100F was the prototype, essentially a test bed that got forced into service. It was an emergency response to the threat of the SA2 in Vietnam, this threat caused several programs to be started at the highest priorities, the Weasel project was one of them. The original contract for the effort was written on a chalk board, everyone signed it, and a picture was taken of the board, they did not have time to do it the "normal" way. The concept got proven as functional in that platform, but the capability was pretty limited, it could work with the existing generation of the Fan Song radar, and that was about it. And the aircraft could not keep up with the F-105's they supported after the F-105's were clean and out bound. The electronic systems eventually had to be modified to detect the later versions of the Fan Song, as well as the Flap Wheel, Fire Can, and Gun Dish radars.
Since the F-100 could not keep up with the F-105 after the F-105 dropped their load, the use of an F-105 as a platform was a natural decision. With the F105F and then the F-105G the Thud started to be a good system, and was effective, and it flew by far the most Wild Weasel flights in SEA. Out of both Korat and Takhli this aircraft really started to work well. But the F-4C was the one that, as far as SEAD went, got to be what was needed for the job.
Both the C and E's predate me (I was working in other realms of EW at that time), but I worked a good bit with the F-4G Weasel (from pretty early in its cycle), and everything that followed it to date. I also knew/know many of the gentlemen involved from the F-100 on.
The Navy did the same tasking with other aircraft, and until the EA6B came along they were a step behind the Air Force in many ways. EA6B's conducted more than 700 sorties in Vietnam late in the conflict. The EA6B may not have had guns to press the attack into the teeth of the enemy, but between the SHRIKES, ARMS, and bombs they could handle more targets, with greater precision, in a hotter environment, than the F-4. Three ECMO's (or 2 ECMOs and a "gunner" in the right seat, ECMO 1) can handle a lot of things. People think of it as an EA / ELINT platform, but it can also drop ordinance if that is the tasking. But it can't defend itself from fighters.
T!