The finger-four formation (also known as the "four finger formation" and the "Fingertip Formation") is a

flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

formation used by

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

. It consists of four aircraft, and four of these formations can be combined into a squadron formation.

Description

The formation consists of a

of four aircraft, consisting of a "lead element" and a "second element", each of two aircraft. When viewing the formation from above, the positions of the planes resemble the tips of the four fingers of a human right

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the Koala#Characteristics, koala (which has two thumb#O ...

(without the

thumb The thumb is the first digit of the hand, next to the index finger. When a person is standing in the medical anatomical position (where the palm is facing to the front), the thumb is the outermost digit. The Medical Latin English noun for thumb ...

), giving the formation its name. Four Finger Formation

The lead element is made up of the flight leader at the very front of the formation and one

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is the pilot of a secondary aircraft providing support or protection to a primary aircraft in a potentially dangerous situation, traditionally flying in formation to the side and slightly behind the primary craft. The t ...

to his rear left. The second element is made up of an additional two planes, the element leader and his wingman. The element leader is to the right and rear of the flight leader, followed by the element wingman to his right and rear. Both the flight leader and element leader have offensive roles, in that they are the ones to open fire on enemy aircraft while the flight remains intact. Their wingmen have a defensive role—the flight wingman covers the rear of the second element and the element wingman covers the rear of the lead element. Four of these flights can be assembled to form a squadron formation which consists of two staggered lines of fighters, one in front of the other. Each flight is usually designated by a color (i.e. Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green). One disadvantage of the finger-four formation was that it left the least-experienced flier, the number two wingman, in the most exposed position (as "tail-end Charlie"). These were particularly vulnerable to a surprise diving attack, and in some cases could be picked off without the others in the formation even noticing.

History

The formation was developed by several air forces independently in the 1930s. The

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...

adopted it in 1934 and 1935.Finnish Air Force in World War II, Heikki Nikunen
at century-of-flight. ''

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

'' pilots developed the formation independently in 1938 during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, and were the first to use it in combat.

Finnish experiment

During the 1930s, the

, aware of its weakness in numbers compared to its neighbours, sought to offset the disadvantage by a radical rethink of its tactics. The new tactical philosophy emphasized aggression, a willingness to attack regardless of the odds, as well as shooting accuracy at a time when aerobatic skill was prized by most air forces. Hand in hand with the changes was the adoption of the pair and finger-four formation, which allowed economy and gave the flexibility that the new tactics required. The aircraft in the new formations had greater vertical and horizontal separation and so they were free to scan in all directions for enemy aircraft, rather than focusing on maintaining a close formation. That allowed the pilots to maintain greater

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

and reduced their chance of being spotted by the enemy. The two pairs could split and attack on their own. The pilot who spotted the enemy would become the leader of the pair or even the whole flight for the duration of the attack, as he had the best situational awareness at that moment. With no guarantee of success, the FAF adopted the new tactics and was later to find the validity of this approach during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

(1939–1940) with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The Finnish Air Force proved their effectiveness by achieving a 16:1 kill ratio with the finger-four against the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

, which used the conventional

Vic formation The Vic formation is a formation devised for military aircraft and first used during the First World War. It has three or sometimes more aircraft fly in close formation with the leader at the apex and the rest of the flight ''en echelon'' to t ...

German experience in Spain

Involvement in the

gave the fledgling ''

'' an early experience of combat conditions, but the "

Condor Legion The Condor Legion () was a unit of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War. The legion developed methods of strategic bombing that were ...

" quickly found its main fighter aircraft, the He 51, was outclassed by the Soviet I-16 in service with the Republicans. The new Bf 109B was effective but in short supply. For some time, only six were available, making the 3-plane ''Kette'' impractical. Flying in pairs (''Rotte'') or a two-pair ''Schwarm'' and using a more open formation (made possible by radio communication between aircraft) was found to confer other benefits. Most notable in its development and use in the ''Luftwaffe'' were Günther Lützow and

Werner Mölders Werner Mölders (18 March 1913 – 22 November 1941) was a World War II German Luftwaffe pilot, wing commander, and the leading German fighter ace in the Spanish Civil War. He became the first pilot in aviation history to shoot down 100 ...

and their fellow airmen. In the ''Luftwaffe'', the flight () was made up of two pairs () of aircraft. Each ''Rotte'' was composed of a leader and a wingman. The ''Rottenführer'' (pair leader) would attack enemy aircraft, leave his wingman to scan for threats and protect him while he engaged the enemy. The Germans thus eschewed the Finnish Air Force's more flexible approach. The ''Luftwaffe'' continued the use of the formation during its

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

, the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

and the

invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

in which its effectiveness was shown to be considerably greater than the standard three-aircraft "

Vic Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

" close formation used by its opponents.Spick p27 Later, the RAF, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) and Soviet Air Forces adapted their tactics.

Other operators

The Soviet Air Force units in the

soon adopted the formation flying against the Germans and in 1938 recommended its use when they returned home. However, most of the Spanish veterans were swept away during

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

of the armed forces, and the more conservative "Vic" remained the standard Soviet formation. The ''pary'' and ''zveno'' were not reintroduced until the after Operation Barbarossa forced reforms by Alexander Novikov in 1942 and 1943.Hardesty p. 84 The RAF similarly could not radically reform their fighter tactics until the end of the

. The easing of the pressure and a switch to a more offensive stance led to various experiments with formations. The

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

Douglas Bader Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...

was the first RAF pilot to try the formation, in May 1941. After some refining it became the standard formation of his Duxford Wing and eventually spread throughout RAF.Burns pp. 150–53Bader, Douglas (1973) p. 132-133 The

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

and Naval Aviation began using a concept called "Fighting Pair" from 1940 to 1941. Japan also adopted the finger-four formation during World War II.Bickers (1996) p. 150Boyne (2003) p. 192Buell, Griess, Bradley & Dice (2002) p. 77

Missing man formation

The finger-four formation became less common after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. However, it is still used in the "Missing Man Formation" at pilots' funeral ceremonies. The formation performs a fly-by in level flight over the funeral, at which point the second element leader climbs vertically and departs the formation, symbolizing the departure of the deceased person.

Footnotes

References

* * * * * Burns, Michael (1990 reprint 1998) ''Bader: the man and his men'' Cassell * * Hardesty, Von (1982) ''Red Phoenix: the rise of Soviet air power 1941-1945'' Arms and Armour Press * Holmes, Tony (2007). ''Spitfire VS Bf 109: Battle of Britain''. Osprey Publishing. * Spick, Mike (1996) ''Luftwaffe Fighter Aces'' Greenhill Books * Johnson J.E. (1964) ''Full Circle'' Cassell Military Paperbacks