Flying Formations – Station-keeping #4

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Flying Formations – Station-keeping #4

Postby 100th_Alien on Tue May 16, 2006 7:34 pm

First, it helps to know who you are keeping station on. Of the various methods I have seen, the ‘cell’ system, my name for it, works the best.

The basic building block of a ‘cell’ formation is the ‘ELEMENT’. Elements are made of 2 or 3 pilots with one leader and everyone else is a wingman. The wingmen only have to worry about keeping station on their specific leader. Whatever he does is ‘right’ and they follow him regardless of where he is in the overall formation. This way, they remain a solid fighting unit even if they completely lose the master formation. This technique is extremely useful to the bomber community.

The ‘cell’ lead is responsible for keeping station on the formation lead or a subgroup leader if the formation is that large.

This system also reduces the workload on the formation lead. He only has to work with the ‘cell’ leads in managing the formation. The ‘cell’ leads are responsible for working with their specific wingmen to get them into correction positions within the cell.

Now that you know who you will be keeping station on, its time to talk about the mechanics of how you do it.

Note: Instead of using a squad level highlight, only highlight the pilot you are taking position on. There is less confusion that way.

First, a good leader is going to set an engine power for the formation. That is the engine power setting everyone uses when they are in correct position. If the lead is really on his toes, this power setting will be Normal cruise or about 80% of Military power.
Wingmen out of position should use Military power to get back into position ASAP. The more time they spend out of position, the more time they spend vulnerable to enemy attack. A wingman should NOT use WEP to regain position, that should be reserved solely for combat where it is most needed.

Second, use any opportunity to ‘cut the corner’ between yourself and the formation. IF they are in a climb, go to level flight. If they are turning, you turn harder to take a shorter path to gain on the formation.

Climbing Example: You are in a B17 and have fallen 2,000 yards behind your formation, which is climbing away with a climb-speed of 150 IAS. Simply adding power is not going to cut it. At best you will increase your airspeed slightly as well as your climb rate. At worse, you will only increase your climb rate and not your airspeed.
You HAVE to increase your airspeed to close up with the formation. Instead of climbing, go to level flight. You will accelerate even without using extra power. This is an advantage if you are on a fuel critical mission.
In level fight you will pick up an additional 50-60 IAS easily. That will give you a closure rate of about 25-30 yards per second. Allowing you to cover that 2,000 yard gap in 80 to 60 seconds. Adding power for more speed will shorten that time but it does add problems for the final close up.
You have been biting your nails for the last minute or so and finally you are more or less in correct position, BUT now you are too fast and too low. A nice zoom climb can fix both of those problems.
Simply pull up while maintaining the formation heading. Watch your heading and airspeed. DO NOT let you airspeed drop below the formation airspeed. There is a lag between the speed you see and the speed you settle into when you drop back into the climb. After some practice you will learn just how much that lag is. If you do lose too much airspeed, you will drop behind again and have to repeat this process again.
If your airspeed is not dropping fast enough, you can always cut your throttle a bit in the zoom to further reduce your airspeed. Again avoid dropping below the formation airspeed and losing ground.

Turning Example: You are in a Fw-190 and have fallen 3,000 meters behind your formation. This formation reached its assigned altitude and is in level flight. Fortunately the formation lead has called for the formation to make a 60 degree turn to the left to intercept some allied bombers.
Here you should go to Military power and turn sharper than the main formation. You probably need to make a sharp 70 degree turn.
Here too, you need to allow for your excess speed at the final rejoin by cutting power or using a hard turn to bleed off the excess. Again, do not drop below the formation airspeed or you will fall behind and need to repeat the cycle again.

Level Flight Example: The worst case of being out of formation is this one, behind the formation and no turns or climbs to take advantage of. Your power margin is the only tool you have to work with. You might ask the formation lead to cut the formation power a bit or throw in a turn for you. Do not expect any help of this sort if the formation is a large one. The lead can not endanger the main body for one pilot.
Apply as much power as you can and just wait, nothing else to do.

Each of these techniques work with large formations or if you are one pilot of a two pilot formation. They do require practice to perform a one iteration rejoin instead of a 3 or 4 iteration rejoin.

Now that you have gotten into your proper position IN the formation, how do you stay there without bobbling all over the sky?

This is where I and some other pilots disagree on techniques. I prefer the formation lead to be on some form of autopilot most of the time. It IS his job to be the ‘fixed point’ in the formation that everyone else uses for a reference. Plus, he has more responsibilities to attend to and should not split his attention from those with the mechanics of actual flight. Using or not using autopilots is up to your flight/squadron leaders.

The ‘cell’ leaders can use autopilots if they are in position as well. The more stable they are, the easier it is for their wingmen to stay in position.

Do not become anal about holding your position to the absolute inch, no one can do that.
Use about 10% of the distance the lead sets as the standard between wingman. If he wants wingmen to hold 100 yards from each other then give yourself 10 yards plus/minus to work with. When you do reach one of the limits, gently, GENTLY make what corrections you need to correct the drift. Instead of rolling 90 degrees to change your heading, rock your wings just enough to change your heading 1 maybe 2 degrees. Then relax and watch for bandits as you drift to the other limit.

One of the main points in flying in a formation is mutual protection. That just is not going to happen if you spend 95% of your time obsessing about holding a perfect position. Check position, scan for enemy, check position, scan for enemy, etc. The slower your drift, the more time you spend scanning for bandits – this is what you want.

One thing you can count on. As soon as you get yourself ‘dialed in’ and start to relax, the formation will turn to a new heading or it will get bounced by bandits and you have to start the process all over.

Finally, communication. If you have to step away from the computer, drink, toilet, kids/pets/wife, whatever. Let your guys know you have stepped away. Saves you the embarrassment of coming back to find yourself all alone and the formation disappearing ‘that a way’.

Recap.

Build the formation with self sufficient building blocks.
Know who your immediate leader is.
Be proactive in rejoining the formation, don’t wait for your leader to yell at you.
Once in your correct position, do not obsess over maintaining it exactly.


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100th_Alien
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