WW2 Fighter Formations

During WWII, fighter aircraft played a key role in the skies across the world, engaging in various roles such as escorting bombers and attacking enemy planes. But how did these formations come about?

Fighter Combat Formation

In the WWII training film that shows different tactics used by US pilots, the Captain shows a formation to his squadron that he says didn’t stand the test of modern combat. To maintain the formation, three men have to give at least 30% of their attention to holding their position. This means that they only have 70% of their time devoted to watching enemy formations and watching their tails. The plane at the tail knows that if an attack comes, he’s the guy who’s going to get it since stragglers always get killed.

Therefore, a new combat formation was formed. Four in line, abreast, and no stragglers. The two elements flying together cover each other’s tails five to seven spans apart. There’s no tail-end Charlie, and no one man is sticking his neck out. The Captain in the video says it only takes 5% of your attention to maintain this formation. With every man searching the skies 95% of the time, enemy formations are spotted a good distance away. After a little practice, you can stay in position without ever looking at the other planes.

When attacked flying in combat formation, you’ll see the enemy plane long before he gets within firing range. The spacing between the planes is such that if one element is attacked, the element on the other side of the formation is at the precise distance where they can throttle back and turn into the attacker for a head-on shot. All of this happens before the enemy plane could be near enough to be dangerous.