Flying Formations – Maneuvering (Part 3)

[100th_Alien]

There is nothing more heartbreaking than watching a good looking formation fall apart doing a simple turn.

There are so many ways to foul up a turn, its frightening. Find a buddy and try a few of these exercises. In each exercise use the same plane, fuel and weapons load. The initial setup is also the same. Get into stable level flight heading North (000) in a line abreast formation with a 100 yard separation. Line abreast means each of you should see the other in the center of the left/right views.

In each exercise fly by the instruments, not off each other.

First Exercise. You will bank to the left and hold a 45 degree bank for 90 degrees. Your buddy will roll into a 30 degree bank and hold for 90 degrees. DO NOT pull back on the stick, just hold the bank.

Second Exercise. This time both of you roll to the left into a 45 degree bank and hold it for 90 degrees. You pull back on the stick and hold 1.5 Gs while your buddy just holds his bank angle and does not pull back on the stick.

Check your spacing after each exercise. Are you even at the same altitude?

See how much damage two very simple variables have on a 90 degree turn? Now imagine the effects when 5 – 10 times as many planes in the formation. This is one reason why ad-hoc formations (bunch of guys that do not normally fly together) have so much trouble with formation turns. Squadrons can define and practice ‘standard rate’ turns until they have it down pat. It will help if they coordinate with other like squadrons in using the same ‘standard’. This allows quick integration when squadrons combine forces.

Naturally, you take position cues off the lead as much as you can but there will be situations where the lead is out of sight and you MUST fly on the instruments – bombers spread out widely or fighters making ‘in-place’ turns.

Use commonsense techniques to help prevent maneuvering ‘distortions’. Aircraft on the inside of the turn should cut power to avoid running out ahead of the Lead. Aircraft on the outside of the turn should add power to avoid losing ground on the Lead. The Lead should call ‘power’ before the turn to remind everyone that they should be changing power, THEN he can start the actual turn.

If you have ever seen a marching band or military drill team make a 90 degree turn, then you have seen this technique in action. The men on the outside of the formation have to take longer steps because they have more distance to cover while the man on the inside of the formation marks time until the outside man makes the 90 degree turn.
Small bank angles make for a wide turn and thus keeping the differences in speed between the inside and outside of the formation small.

A formation that has any length to it has another problem. Example: A convoy of 10 trucks is traveling on the main road. The lead truck turns off the main road to the right onto a secondary road. Imagine the chaos if every truck turned at the same time. It would take a LONG time to sort things out before the convoy could continue its drive.
This does not happen because each driver knows he has to continue on the main road until he reaches the secondary road before the can turn.

This exact same process MUST happen with a long formation. Every pilot or sub-lead must wait till he reaches that point in space where the formation lead turned. Not easy when that point IS an imaginary point hanging in space.
We can use a simple fact to help us here. For every 100 MPH, you travel approximately 50 yards per second. Using simple math, you can quickly calculate how long to wait before you are at the Lead’s turn point. I will not be to the inch but close enough.

Example: You are 300 yards from the formation lead and flying at 150 IAS. Lead starts a right hand turn, how long do you delay your turn start? 4 seconds.
150 IAS = 75 yards per second (100 mph~50 yd/sec + 50 mph~25 yd/sec = 75 yd/sec)
300 yards at 75 yd/sec = 4 seconds
Make these calculations ahead of time and they will not cause you any confusion when the Lead says ‘TURN’.

The above turn is an example of a sequential turn, one where each pilot turns in a specific order. Another example is the ‘Tactical turn’ or ‘Cross-over turn’. This turn is very impressive when properly executed or a quick way to totally destroy a formation when it is not done properly.
The Tactical turn is a very fast method of making a large heading change quickly for 2 or more pilots. I have seen this done with as many as 10 pilots and the line spread over 5 miles, end to end.

How to perform this turn is very simple. The lead calls for a turn to the left/right. The pilot furthest to the opposite direction of the turn starts the turn. This means for a turn to the left, the pilot on the RIGHT most side turns first. (Naturally the leftmost pilot is the first to turn in a Tactical turn to the right).

The sequence of out most to inner most follows until all pilots have turned. The only confusing part of this turn is everyone is now on the opposite side of the formation from when they started. If you were the right most pilot, then you are the left most pilot after the turn. DO NOT try to get back to your old position, stay where you are.

How do you know when it is your time to turn? Wait for the pilot beside you to begin his turn and when he crosses behind you, start your turn. Takes practice to know the exact angle from your dead six that pilot must reach before you start but that is where practice shines.
This is also an example where a ‘standard rate’ turn is very helpful. If everyone is allowed to turn anyway the want, this maneuver will scatter the formation to the 4 winds.
I have seen a nice two man line abreast formation that was holding steady at 300 yards scatter to over a 5,000 yards trying to do this. DO NOT try this in combat for the first time, practice, practice, practice. When you get it down pat, doing it front of the world tells everyone you guys have your stuff together.

IN-place turns.
These are just what they sound like. When the formation Lead calls for an in-place turn, at the execute command every pilot turns. Here again, using ‘standard rate’ turns help keep spacing and relative position in the formation stable.

This type of turn is very useful for a leader to manipulate his formation.

Example: You command 8 pilots in a line astern formation heading North (000). You hear reports of enemy activity to your left. You tell everyone to perform an in-place turn to the left and new heading is West (270). That simple turn changed your formation from a line astern to a line abreast, perfect for sweeping a wide area.
A 45 degree heading change would have converted the line astern to an echelon left/right depending on the direction of the 45 degree change.

Another specialty turn is the ‘teardrop’ turn. It is called a ‘teardrop’ because that is what it looks like when you trace your flight path on the ground. This is very effective for bombers that must make a second pass over a target.

To perform the ‘teardrop’.
Turn to the left or right to a new heading 87 degrees off your initial heading. If your initial heading was 180, your new heading would be 267 for a right turn and 93 for a left turn. The second you reach the new heading, reverse your turn until you can roll out on the reciprocal of your initial heading. Initial = 180, reciprocal = 000.

The key for retracing your exact flight path back over the target is:
Hold bank angle constant throughout the full turn. If you used a 30 degree turn for the first leg, use 30 degrees for the second leg.
Hold airspeed constant.
Hold G-level constant.
Hold nose position on the horizon constant.
Hold power constant.

If wind is set to anything other than zero, it will push you in its direction for the duration of the turn. You will have to compensate for this.

Recap:
Define, practice and use ‘standard rate’ turns.
Wait till you reach the turning position if your are in a column.
Compensate with power for being on the in/out side of a formation turn.
Practice, practice, PRACTICE – this will take work on your part to nail down.

Next: #4 Station Keeping