#tactical formation

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What is a Missing Man Formation?

Introduction The missing man formation is an aerial salute performed as part of a flypast of aircraft at a funeral or memorial event, typically in memory of a fallen pilot, a well-known military service member or veteran, or a well-known political figure. The planes fly in a formation with a space where one plane should be, symbolising the person’s absence. Though similar formations have…

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What is a Four-Finger Formation?

Introduction The finger-four formation (also known as the “four finger formation” and the “Fingertip Formation”) is a flight formation used by fighter aircraft. It consists of four aircraft, and four of these formations can be combined into a squadron formation. Four-Finger Formation. Description The formation consists of a flight of four aircraft, consisting of a “lead element” and a “second…

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What is a Vic Formation?

Introduction 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 the left and the right, the whole resembling the letter “V”. The formation’s name is derived from the term that was then used for “V” in the RAF…

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What is a Rearguard?

Introduction A rearguard or rear security is a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or withdrawal. The term can also be used to describe forces protecting lines, such as communication lines, behind an army. Even more generally, a rearguard action may refer idiomatically to an attempt at preventing something though it is likely too late to…

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What is a Forlorn Hope?

Introduction A forlorn hope is a band of soldiers or other combatants chosen to take the vanguard in a military operation, such as a suicidal assault through the kill zone of a defended position, or the first men to climb a scaling ladder against a defended fortification, or a rearguard, to be expended to save a retreating army, where the risk of casualties is high. Such men were volunteers…

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What is a Vanguard?

Introduction The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. In naval warfare the van is the advance ship, or fleet, that will make the initial engagement with an enemy fleet. Refer to Forlorn Hope…

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What is a Schiltron?

Introduction A schiltron (also spelled sheltron, sceld-trome, schiltrom, or shiltron) is a compact body of troops forming a battle array, shield wall or phalanx. The term is most often associated with Scottish pike formations during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries (refer to tactical formation). Scottish Schiltron formation. Etymology The term dates…

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What is a Pike Square?

Introduction The pike square (German: Gevierthaufen, lit. ‘square crowd’, or Gewalthaufen lit. ‘crowd of force’) was a military tactical formation in which 10 rows of men in 10 columns wielded pikes. It was developed by the Swiss Confederacy during the 14th century for use by its infantry. First rank holding pikes at charge for horse defensive posture and second rank at charge for delivering…

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