RAF Formation Flying on a Bicycle

[Larry]

Guys, is this photo for real or a propaganda photo? I gues as its a vic formation it dates from 1939-40 but the bicycle Spit appears is a 'cannon armed' Mk V?

Your thoughts please and also when te finger four formation replaced the vic as the official foration as I know some units started finger four earlier?

https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/set-of-wheels

[RSwank]

The photo is real as the RAF did use bicycles in that way. Here is a slightly different photo, originally published in the "Picture Post" in 1942:


https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...-photo/2642474

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As another example, this Imperial War Museums link is about the Polish 302 and 303 Squadrons:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-p...tle-of-britain

If you search on the link for the word "bicycle" you find:

"Meanwhile, the pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron were awaiting action with growing desperation. Most of them were experienced veterans of the Polish and French campaigns. After weeks of training on bicycles at RAF Northolt, the pilots finally got a chance to prove themselves in combat."

A search on the same page for "tricycle" shows:

"Language lessons became a top priority as most of the Polish pilots did not know a single word of English. Communication between British and Polish officers had to be carried out in French. The RAF also came up with a way to teach the 'newcomers' British tactics. Pilots of Nos. 302 and 303 Squadrons were ordered to ride tricycles - all equipped with radio, speed indicators and compasses - around airfields in flying formations. The Poles, combat experienced and eager to fight, did not take that kind of approach very lightly. Pilot Officer Jan Zumbach wrote in his memoirs:

'The British wasting so much of our time with their childish exercises, when all of us had already won their wings'."

There is a mention on using tricycles to train controllers (and possibly pilots) on how the radios were used to direct formations.
Search for "radio" (two hits) on the page: https://bsamuseum.wordpress.com/1939...e-r-a-harding/


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Here is a clip from Svěrák's movie "Dark Blue World", a film about Czechoslovak pilots in Britain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DAcHmEOXdw

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This next link is about the finger-four formation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger-four


"The RAF similarly could not radically reform their fighter tactics (i.e. vic formation) until the end of the Battle of Britain. The easing of the pressure and a switch to a more offensive stance led to various experiments with formations. The flying ace Douglas Bader was the first RAF pilot to try the (finger-four) formation, in May 1941. After some refining it became the standard formation of his Duxford Wing and eventually spread throughout RAF.[5][6]"

[Franek Grabowski]

They were used for training or rather some joy by Air Cadets, and not by pilots.