US Navy: Naval Aviation Doctrine: Introduction to Naval Aviation, 1946 - Basic Tactical Organization and Procedures
INTRODUCTION TO NAVAL AVIATION - RESTRICTED - ISSUED BY AVIATION TRAINING DIVISION OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS U. S. NAVY. * JANUARY 1946 * OPNAV 33-NY-85; Chapter IX. Tactics and Flight Operations.
1. BASIC TACTICAL ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES
Tactical dispositions rest on certain fundamental procedures governing the operational use of aircraft. They insure orderly and effective functioning of individual aircraft within patterns of uniformity; and, as the primary elements of flight procedure, they constitute the simplest forms of naval flying and the foundation of all tactical dispositions of carrier and shipboard aircraft.
The tactical organization of Fleet Air Forces proceeds upward along the following lines:
Fleet Air Force (a graph page 275)
This tactical organization, from the two-plane section to the task force and the Fleet air wing, governs the tactical uses of ship-based and patrol aircraft and is governed in turn by certain basic flight practices.
Tactical Organization
The squadron is the basic administrative and tactical unit of Fleet Air Forces, but for tactical purposes is subdivided into the section and the division.
Actually, the evolution of aerial formations and tactics begins with the section. It is the basic tactical unit of the division and squadron. Division and squadron tactics are simply an evolution of section tactics.
For administrative purposes. squadrons are organized into groups, wings. and forces.
The number of aircraft will vary among squadrons, depending upon aircraft types, but customarily is established in multiples of six up to thirty-six planes.
Formation flying is orderly organisation
Dive bombers in formation
The basic tactical organization of Fleet Air Forces is as follows:
Section. The section is the basic tactical unit of the division and consists of two or three aircraft, depending upon type. Two-plane sections are standard for VF aircraft, and consist of the section leader and a wingman who takes position stepped down and about 45 ° back of the section leader's beam. The three-plane section is usually regarded as standard for VB and VT aircraft, and consists of a section leader and two wingmen. The leader is referred to as No. 1. with No. 2 plane to port and No. 3 plane to starboard.
Division combat team of two sections
Division. The division is the basic and optimum tactical unit of the squadron. It consists of two or more sections (usually not more than four). Sections fly in position on the division leader, who normally leads the first section. The division also usually comprises the combat team, which consists of the personnel assigned to each division of a combat squadron. This team - division leader, section leader, and wingmen - is intended to train and fight together. The six-plane division in two three-plane sections is the standard tactical division for VB and VT aircraft, the four-plane division of two two-plane sections standard for VF.
Division of three-plane sections
Squadron. The squadron, the basic administrative and tactical unit of Fleet Air Forces, consists of two or more aircraft divisions. When an entire squadron is in the air, division leaders form their divisions in position on the squadron commander, who normally leads the first division. The composite squadron (VC) is composed of aircraft of various types in contrast with the normal squadron of all one type. Composite squadrons most frequently are assigned to smaller carriers where tactical requirements demand various types of aircraft but where space does not permit full squadrons. A composite squadron will carry a number of VF and VT aircraft and operate under one commander.
Group. The air group consists of two or more squadrons, and is the optimum administrative and tactical carrier-based aircraft organization. Where more than one carrier air group is involved, the groups become components of carrier divisions, groups, and task forces.
Wing. A Fleet air wing consists of two or more operating squadrons and a head-quarters squadron (Hedron), usually patrol aircraft. The Fleet air wing organization is in contrast with carrier-based groups.
Flight. A general term referring to any or all aircraft in the air.
Disposition. A prescribed arrangement of all tactical units composing a flight or group.
Formations and Watch and Fire Sectors
A formation is defined as a concentration of two or more aircraft maintaining position relative to each other.
There are several requirements which apply to any aerial formation if it is to be effective; foremost among them is that the formation must be able to achieve the results and purposes for which it was designed; and it must also be simple in form, maneuverable, easy to control, and flexible enough to meet any changing tactical requirements developing from combat situations.
The "V" of `V's"
Air attack, of course, has one primary purpose - the destruction of the enemy. Tactical surprise and early control of the air are essential to this purpose, with the disposition and composition of tactical aircraft units providing a means to the end.
Stacked "V" of `V's"
It is never good policy in any situation to send a boy to do a man's work, and by the same token aircraft formations must be adequate for the job for which they are intended. The number of planes assigned to attack missions, therefore, is governed by such basic considerations as the expected strength and disposition of the enemy and by the nature of the mission itself - whether bombing, support aircraft, fighter sweep, or any one of the various jobs to which naval aircraft are subject. The formation of the various aircraft types assigned to these jobs will follow certain tactical patterns prescribed for the specific kind of work to be done.
Standard dispositions and evolutions of carrier aircraft are prescribed in Fleet tactical doctrine. In general, they constitute evolutions of the simple formations basic to the aircraft section.
These section formations are:
1. Section echelon, either to right or left
2. Section vee (for 3-plane section)
3. Section in line
4. Section A-B-C (for 3-plane section)
5. Section in column
Division formations are compounded section formations. As the accompanying diagrams indicate, basic section formations apply to divisions or flights of divisions in compound formations such as echelon of vees or vee of vees.
Large formations of carrier aircraft are prescribed in accordance with specific Fleet doctrine, but still remain in essence a higher development of the simple section formations. One such formation is the disposition of fighter escort for bombers. Its purpose is to provide protective cover for bombers against all forms of attack and from any direction or altitude. It takes the form of fighter escort formations disposed in several layers designated as: (a) close support, (b) close cover, (c) intermediate cover, and (d) high cover. In this case the formation becomes vertical as well as horizontal.
All aircraft formations have prescribed watch and fire sectors to insure mutual protection and support. Watch sectors are assigned each pilot and each member of the air crew until all of the air space surrounding the formation is covered. In general, pilots cover the forward hemisphere and air gunners the rear hemisphere.
Two common systems are utilized (see diagrams) for assigning watch and fire sectors and for reporting contacts. One is the universally-used "clock" system, the other the "compass" system. In the former, contacts are reported as "12 o'clock up" and "6 o'clock clown," with other clock positions relative. The compass system provides for reporting contacts by relative bearing in degrees and up or down.
Watch and fire sectors remain the same in relation to the formation even though aircraft units themselves change position.
The Take-Off, Rendezvous and Landing
The effectiveness of carrier operations - and so, too, the effectiveness of tactical missions - depends to a great extent upon the speed and efficiency with which aircraft can be launched and recovered.
Procedures for launching and recovering aircraft may be considered in a dual light: first, and most obvious, as a sort of naval traffic ordnance for the orderly movement of aerial traffic about the ship; and second, as a combat necessity upon which the very life of the ship may depend. A continuous operation involving multiple launchings and recoveries would be critically hampered, if not made impossible, without uniform methods for deployment of aircraft in combat formation and for their quick recovery aboard. Under the urgency of combat, the speed with which a carrier's air group can be made airborne may mean the difference between life and death. Like-wise, under less urgent but equally important circumstances, only by such methods can a combat strike plan be maintained on schedule.
The steps in carrier launchings and recoveries may be listed as:
1. The take-off
2. The rendezvous, or join-up after take-off
3. The break-up preparatory to landing
4. The landing
Ready for take-off
The take-off. The take-off perhaps may be considered part of the rendezvous, but it is taken up separately here to emphasize the timing and speed necessary to a carrier launching. In the case of fighters, single-plane take-offs normally are only 12 to 15 seconds apart. As the first plane is signalled away by the flight deck officer, the second taxies into position ready to start its take-off run when the first clears the flight deck. Each pilot as he becomes airborne, swings slightly to starboard of the ship's course before continuing on the take-off heading; this clears the deck of propeller blast for the following plane.
The rendezvous. A rendezvous of aircraft is a speedy and orderly join-up of planes after the take-off at a predetermined altitude in accordance with a prescribed plan, and is performed by the planes of one division at a time. A properly executed join-up saves power, fuel, and time, and permits aircraft to get away on schedule. The time required to rendezvous should be a known factor to division and squadron leaders, because in effecting the rendezvous the flight leader must hold a course dead ahead for about the time necessary for all planes of the flight to take off. When computed time has elapsed, he then makes an easy 180° turn to the opposite heading and each plane of the division, conforming to the leader's flight path after the take-off, cuts in and joins up at the proper juncture as illustrated by the accompanying diagram. With proper timing, power settings, and cut-ins, the division may be expected to be joined up when abeam the carrier on an opposite course. Each division follows the same procedure, proceeding then to an assigned area where the squadron and the group rendezvous is affected in a manner similar to that for the division. The squadron and group rendezvous is made at a rendezvous point and over a prescribed course (circling) until all component flights have joined up.
Into the landing circle
The break-up. The break-up is the rendezvous in reverse. It is the speedy and orderly break-up of large aircraft formations into individual units for recovery of the air group. While the group formation circles overhead at a distance, each squadron breaks off into a lower squadron landing circle directly above the carrier; from the squadron landing circle, divisions break off at uniform intervals into the lower landing circle to come in astern of the carrier and land. A properly executed break-up provides a uniform flow of aircraft into the landing "groove" astern the flight deck.
Landing aboard
The landing. The landing approach starts on the downwind leg of the lower landing circle on an opposite course to the carrier at about 250 feet. At a point almost abeam of the carrier, the pilot turns 90° toward the carrier on the cross leg of the approach then makes a gradual turn into the wind onto the carrier's heading and about 100 yards astern. It is at this point just astern the carrier that the pilot enters the "groove" - an imaginary center line of the carrier extending aft from the flight deck. At this point of the landing, aircraft must be at an altitude only about 20 or 25 feet above the flight deck, no more than 10 knots above stalling speed, and nose up for a three-point power approach. From here on until he engages the arresting gear, the pilot takes his orders from the Landing Signal Officer stationed on a small platform projecting over the port side at the stern. It is the job of the LSO to coach the pilot into a landing at a time when, due to the altitude of his plane, the pilot is partially blind to the flight deck immediately below and ahead of him. Standard carrier landing signals are reproduced elsewhere in this section. Only two are mandatory - the wave-off and the cut.
A wave-off and around once more
Catapulting
Aircraft are launched by catapult both from cruisers and battleships, as in the case of VO/VS aircraft, and from aircraft carriers when conditions and circumstances make catapulting advisable. Carrier aircraft are launched from forward flush-deck catapults at night when a deck take-off run is inadvisable in the darkness; to in-crease range when heavily loaded aircraft might have difficulty in getting up flying speed within the flight deck distance; or under no-wind conditions.
Ready for catapulting
Catapults and catapult charges, or air pressures, are designed to permit safe launching of catapult-type aircraft under most load and wind conditions. It is customary, however, to have at least 5 knots head wind (wind against the line of fire) or 10 knots for catapult types above 5550 pounds weight.
Catapulting is under the direction of a Launching Officer. An aircraft to be launched must be warmed up and with engines idling before it is reported "ready" to the Launching Officer. In the event the ship is rolling, the launching is made when the line of flight is above the horizontal to prevent launching into the water.
In daylight launching, the bridge and catapult control stations display red flags as the signal to "prepare to launch airplanes." This signal is normally given five minutes before the first plane is to be launched. If the launching is to be halted, the red flag is waved violently in negation. When the plane is to he launched, a green flag is broken out.
