Some thoughts on Squad Operations in RoF

So I've had a few flights on the Syndicate Server, with some success and some not success, and I was thinking about the differences between WWIIOL and RoF and how they would apply to 19 RFC Squad Operations.

Lack of GPS/Waypoint markers.

Section Leaders are responsible for map reading and directions. Turns must be coordinated and giving proper bearings/cardinal headings, and prompted with a 'Go' command.

e.g

Section Leader: Turn right to South West
#2: roger
Section Leader: Go

(Section turns gently to the right)

or

Section Leader: Cross turn left to 180
#2 roger
Section Leader: Go

(Outside wingman #1(right side of the section) turns left behind #2, when he passes behind the #2 #1 starts his turn)

Waypoints need to be easily recognisable land features - river crosses, towns, defined forest shapes etc - reform points need to be set before the battle, and include both 'our' side of the front and the other side.

Lack of Icons

Cross Cover needs to be strictly adhered to. Flying Line Abreast, each pilot looking inside his section covering his wingmans rear. The need to keep a look out must be #1 priority when flying in or around enemy patrols.

If two sections are available, the rear section must be higher and staggered preferably opposite the sun - so flying East in the morning, the high section would be behind the Low section line Astern.

As enemy aircraft are not tagged, all contacts must be identified as soon as possible. If you spot an aircraft, call the BRA (Bearing Range Altitude) and keep an eye on it until it can be identified as friendly or not. Other section members should continue scanning their sectors visually.

Smaller Turning Radius, Collisions and Formations

Line Abreast should be flown a single turn radius apart - for most aircraft this will be less than 100 yards, or pretty close. Try not to fly at the exact same altitude - Section members should be stepped a hundred feet higher or lower to prevent 'Left/Right' turn collisions.

Regarding collisions, take offs and landings should also be staggered - forming up on the field into the wind and taking off right side first - once the aircraft on your right starts to move, you follow watching him closely for veering across your line of take off.

When landing, aircraft should land one at a time - damaged aircraft first - and wait for any ground aircraft to taxi clear before starting landing - don't forget to check the weather reports and land into the wind, and not to wreck your wings when you slew to slow down.

In combat (as shown in MJ's video) its also better to attack using Section tactics (On and Off in single attacks) rather than going in on the same enemy aircraft. It also means if you are 'On' but without a guns solution, and your wingman has the chance of a shot, you must declare 'Off' and manoeuvre away to allow your wingman his shot. Also, if you're the only one capable of taking a shot, your wingman must try and keep your six clear and vice versa. Good S.A should be kept at all times in the dogfight, and a clear disengagement/reforming plan should be discussed before entering a furball.

Also regarding collisions, when head on with a fellow aircraft the correct evasive procedure is for both parties to break left!!

Feel free to post any thoughts or I'll add to this as we go over stuff.

Sounds good, Skipper.

From my experience with flying with Hinkel in RoF it seems a lot easier to fly in close formation than it is in WW2OL, possibly because everything happens slower in WWI, or maybe just the necessity of flying in formation, due to no icons, meaning you can't just fly around in big circles like a mentalist. *cough* Dezey *cough*

Also with there being no icons it makes it harder to spot the enemy as well, so it's important to concentrate more on scanning the skies than on worrying about crashing into your wingman (that was one of the issues they had with flying close formation vics at the start of WW2 as well)

Another noticable side-effect of flying in close formation, and not having a magical GPS compass whatever on your HUD, is that we've been using clock readings more than compass headings when it comes to spotting things, i.e. 'contact 9 o'clock high' as opposed to 'contact north high', so get practicing reading a clock.

Another new thing in RoF compared to WW2OL is that we're finally able to find ourselves flying an Aircraft that is actually faster than the enemy, and which dives better than the enemy, but which doesn't turn as well as the enemy, in the SE5a and SPADs, so I think we'll get a lot more results using proper section tactics and drag and bag.

As for take offs, I say the flight leader fires a green flare first, then the chap on the far right takes off, it just looks more stylish like that.

It seems (from the limited sorties I've had on New Wings and Syndicate) that there are a few guys flying around in pairs, but not many full on squads flying around, so I suppose 4 or 5 SE5's in two sections using tactics etc might cause a bit of a ruckus...

the use of flares needs to be set down so we all know what is what -

green = ok to take off/land

red = help?

yellow = here I am?

white could be 'enemy related'.

The wing rocking and hand signals thing I'm not so fussed about, if we've got Teamspeak.

Skip19 wrote:

The wing rocking and hand signals thing I'm not so fussed about, if we've got Teamspeak.

Well you're just no fun at all, Skipper!

At the moment we've been using green to signal take off, then I sometimes use them for landing if it's a busy aerodrome, or I'm landing a damaged crate (i.e. get out of the way!)

The Balloons use red flares to signal that there are enemy Aircraft in the area, though I try not to use flares whilst in flight unless I really have to as it's sort of like saying 'Here I am, come and shoot me!'