In a turning and burning fight an F4 was no match for a Vulcan, that was back in the early 60s just before we got them. After getting sucked in to a furball the F4 rolled out, opened to 20, reversed, and waxed us while we were still in the turn.
That's what we used to like to think on Vulcans. The reality was that we did no study whatsoever on AAM engagament parameters or lag pursuit techniques, had little idea about AIM9 launch ranges and absolutely no idea at all about AIM7EIII parameters. We didn't even know that search firings were even possible... It was only when I re-roled from Vulcan to F-4 that I learned that most of our so-called tactics on the Vulcan would have been utterly useless against an F-4 and I was stunned at how ignorant we'd been. There was no need to 'open to 20 miles' to take a BVR AIM7EIII Sparrow shot as other options were possible. Beam look-up shots - what were they? Even the Vulcan's so-called I-band 'jammer' was a superb Sparrow magnet for any F-4 crew well-versed in HOJ attacks...
We were naive but confident on the Vulcan. What might have worked against the Firestreak-equipped Lightning was useless against the Phantom's MCS. Anyone stupid enough to mix it and try for a SUU kill against a Vulcan would probably lose - but a sneaky search missile firing was a piece of pi$$.