Four fingers swarm
Four-finger swarm is a flight formation that was used by fighter pilots in particular during World War II . It consists of four aircraft , four four-finger swarms can be combined to form a relay formation . The formation takes its name from the asymmetrical arrangement of the planes, which is similar to the ends of the index, middle, ring and little fingers.
construction
The formation consists of four aircraft. This so-called swarm consists of a “leading element” and a “second element”, usually referred to as Rotten in German . Each squad consists of two aircraft, a squad leader and a wingman. Viewed from above, the formation resembles the applied fingertips of the hand (without the thumb), which gave the formation its name. The leading squad consists of the swarm leader, who leads the entire formation, and a wingman to the left behind.
The second squad consists of a squad leader, who is on the right behind the swarm leader and his wingman, on the right behind his squad leader. Both squad leaders have offensive tasks, so they open fire on enemy aircraft as long as the swarm exists. The wingmen have defensive roles - the wingman of the swarm leader protects the second element, the wingman of the second element protects the leading group. Four swarms can be combined into a relay formation, with two swarms flying next to each other. Usually at NATO each swarm is named with a color (e.g. red, blue, yellow and green).
history
The formation was developed independently by several air forces prior to World War II . The Finnish Air Force introduced it in 1934-35, the German Air Force in 1938 in the Spanish Civil War , in which it was first used in aerial combat. Werner Mölders developed the formation during his deployment with the Condor Legion . It quickly became apparent that the four-fingered swarm was far superior to other contemporary formations. The relatively wide-ranging formation and the slightly different flight altitudes of the aircraft involved allowed far more maneuverability and better mutual protection. The looser formation required the pilots to concentrate less on observing them, and this enabled them to keep an eye out for enemy aircraft. Sighting by enemy aircraft was also made more difficult by the loose formation.
Both ranks could break free from the swarm at any time and attack targets separately. The respective Rottenführer took over the attack, while the wingman could look out for threats and give protection. In the Finnish Air Force, on the other hand, the pilot who spotted a target first took over the command of the squad or the entire swarm, which gave additional flexibility. The reason was that this pilot had the best overview of what was happening and was able to react the fastest. The Luftwaffe also used the formation during the Battle of Britain , which quickly showed that it was far superior to the British standard formation "Vic" (German name: " chain "). The "Vic" formation of the Royal Air Force was a V-formation of three aircraft in close formation, which had the disadvantage that only the swarm leader could look out for enemy aircraft, while the other two pilots were mainly occupied with the close Maintain formation without collision. In the course of the war, the four-fingered swarm became the standard formation for almost all air forces involved in the conflict. The RAF took over the formation as early as 1940, the United States Army Air Forces relied on a similar concept from 1940/41 and Japan and the Soviet Union also used it until the end of the war in 1945. The superiority was most evident in the winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union, in which the Finnish Air Force managed to achieve a launch ratio of 16: 1 despite being numerically inferior. The Soviet pilots in the Spanish Civil War took over the four-fingered swarm against the Condor Legion early on, but had to return to the V formation after their return to the USSR. After the Second World War, the four-fingered swarm was used less and less in combat missions, but still forms the basis for the “ Missing Man Formation ” today .
Remarks
- ↑ In contrast to the chain, in which each pilot remains in his place within the formation at a constant distance from the formation leader and has to adjust his speed accordingly, the pilots of the four-fingered flock at constant speed overlap or undercut the flight path of their pilot and, after executing the Curve the formation mirror-inverted. This maneuver enables the swarm to change course faster and easier to fly.
Individual evidence
- ^ WDR: November 22, 1941 - Werner Mölders dies near Breslau
- ↑ Helmut Ettinger: The Second World War. C. Bertelsmann Verlag 2014, ISBN 3-641-1079-03 .
- ↑ Bärbel Krauss: "The Bundeswehr also uses weapons, strategies and doctrines from the time of the Wehrmacht" stuttgarter-zeitung.de of May 17, 2017.