USAAF Fighter Battle Formation - how did it work?

[Cees Steijger]

The USAAF used the four finger formation in combat, composed of a Flight Leader, a Flight Wingman, an Element Leader and an Element Wingman.
What was the numbering? For example: Red 1 would be the flight leader, but than: Red 2 the Element Leader, or was Red 2 the Flight Wingman. I quess Red 4 would be the Element Wingman?

Who knows the practise?

--Cees

[udf_00]

2 & 4 for wingmen


--1
2
----3
------4

[Buckeye30]

These are the numbers as UDF says.
Flight leader no.1
" " wing no.2
2nd element leader no.3
" " wing no.4
Nick

[Cees Steijger]

Originally Posted by udf_00

2 & 4 for wingmen


--1
2
----3
------4

Right! Thanks for the confiormation!

Cees

[Cees Steijger]

Originally Posted by Buckeye30

These are the numbers as UDF says.
Flight leader no.1
" " wing no.2
2nd element leader no.3
" " wing no.4
Nick

Good. So a wingman could be left or right from its leader, right? Depending on the position in the Four Finger Squadron group. --Cees

[Graham Boak]

Yes, indeed either "hand" at different times of the flight, as the elements and wingmen would cross-over as the leader turned right or left. They were not close in tight in a rigid formation but only fluidly attached. This led to the USAF terming this the Fluid Four at some later stage, as it directly represented the most significant and useful feature.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Cees Steijger

The USAAF used the four finger formation in combat, composed of a Flight Leader, a Flight Wingman, an Element Leader and an Element Wingman.
What was the numbering? For example: Red 1 would be the flight leader, but than: Red 2 the Element Leader, or was Red 2 the Flight Wingman. I quess Red 4 would be the Element Wingman?

Who knows the practise?

--Cees

If you want to go a little further, an excellent account of USAAF fighter tactics including the finger four formation and how it worked including element leader and wingman behaviour in different circumstances is in chapter 7 of Jay Stout's "Fighter Group". I've found this to be one of the very best as it covers virtually all aspects relating to USAAF fighter units and how they worked, even down to radio procedures and which channels were used for which communications. Invaluable book and to top it off, very readable.