I have almost everything to earn about on-line flying, so my ears are open. I want to be reasonably competent, and so would appreciate advice on which sim(s) to be come adept. If necessary, please mention specific version(s) of the various sim(s) with which I should be practicing.

BTW, just today received the first of my soon-to-be flight library: "The Story Of Air Fighting" by Air Vice-Marshal J.E, Johnson. An overview, but it's a good one. Might answer some questions.


One thing I've learned from just a quick skim is that the "Game-changer" was radio contact amongst a formation of aircraft. It was of immense value compared to almost non-existent contact between older aircraft, like WW I planes.

So much so that a formation of experienced, trained, pilots in radio contact within their unit, would very likely prevail over somewhat better aircraft flown by pilots of equal skill levels. The radio contact within unit was ultimately dependent on the skill of the formation leader, who could place his formation in the best possible tactical position for combat. During combat, the capabilities of the pilots and planes would necessarily assume more importance.

This sort of Radio/Telephony (R/T) disparity might well have occurred during Spanish Civil War, with concomitant results.

According to Air Vice-Marshal J.E.Johnson, the Brits, French, and Germans had learned that flying in pairs was the basic formation, and that during WW I. There is some evidence that flying in "Pairs of Pairs" was done during the Great War, but that was not the norm..

During the interwar years, such fundamentals were forsaken in lieu of other formations, such as "Vics" of three aircraft, which allowed the flight Leader better control of presumably less well-trained pilots, albeit at the sacrifice of the following pilots' situational awareness. The Vic would transform into (most often) "Line-Ahead" formation for tactical positioning/maneuvering (again, assuming novice pilots in the formation), and would re-transition into Vic formation for attack.

The Germans had a leg-up on rediscovering the better, older formations during the Spanish War, and used them to good advantage during the Battle of Britain, while the Brits were very slow to adopt the better formations, most likely due to institutional inertia, and the great influx of relatively unskilled pilots. There were some Brit units that made an early (semi-authorized) transition to pairs of fighters, and even finger-four formations, but that was well into the BoB, and by no means at the beginning, or even the mid-point of BoB.

Even after the BoB, and with solid evidence that the old-style formations were vastly inferior to the new, finger-four formation, the Brits had some difficulty in transitioning to the newer tactical formations.

If my understanding is correct, then the sim designer ought to set, as default, the AI at a higher level for the Germans during the latter part of the Spanish war, and during most, if not all of the BoB, due to their improved aircraft formations, as well as the experience level of German pilots as opposed to their counterparts flying far less capable formations. The AI setting, of course, is independent of aircraft characteristics/capabilities.

Submitted for consideration.

As I understand it, in the late 30s the RAF had adopted quite rigid fighter formations and tactics, based on the idea that they would be attacking bomber formations flying from German bases which would not be escorted by fighters. Hence:

Fighter Attack No.1 (From Above Cloud) {3 aircraft Section vs single enemy}

Fighter Attack No.2 (From Directly Below) {3 aircraft Section vs single enemy}

Fighter Attack No.3 (From Dead Astern) Approach Pursuit or Approach Turning

Fighter Attack No.4 (From Directly Below) {A variation of No.2, attacking multiple aircraft}

Fighter Attack No.5 (From Dead Astern) {For attacking a large enemy formation}

Fighter Attack No.6 (From Dead Astern) {Attack conducted with entire squadron}

It was not part of RAF consideration that France would fall rapidly and that short range fighter escorts could be based four minutes away on the other side of the channel.

As is typically British and bureaucratic the RAF saw no reason to change its tactics merely because the whole war situation had changed and invalidated all pre-war assumptions.

The documents show RAF squadrons using those rigid tactics in the battle. However, it was only the more independently minded squadron commanders who saw how futile these tactics were, and began to adopt the looser tactics of pairs and the finger-four.

This is my understanding as well.

Historically, a lot of this would depend on whether the aircraft surviving were able to re-unite at all. Most often, a "rally-point" at or near some convenient, readily identifiable geographic feature would be specified.

However, depending on the outcome of combat, the location of same, fuel/damage status, the ability of the planes to re-unite, and leader with navigational skills being available, a number of possibilities present themselves.

Single aircraft, particularly if damaged/low on fuel might well have returned to base, and it is possible that there could be many single aircraft unable to re-unite with their leader, assuming he survived combat.