Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh
Ah. So what is the actual benefit of having (a) leader(s) in 'out there', as opposed to slapping everybody with Rank 0 and giving the Carrier's captain Rank 1?
|
Not every fighter mission is a dogfight, and even the ones that are aren't dogfights all the time.
The squadron leader or air group leader is usually the chief navigator as well. The rest of the squadron forms up on him, and he directs the squadron along it's flight path.
A strike squadron commander is often the chief liason with any ground element, forward controller, or other non-fighters in the combat. He may very well be the one to get the instructions, "500 meters north of the smoke marker is the primary target. After that, the secondary target is the northeastern hilltop. All friendlies are within 25 meters of the summit, and not moving. Anything else is the enemy." It's his job to match those instructions up with the actual terrain seen from the air/space.
The strike leader often can give orders like "Red 1 and Red 2, begin your pass now Red 3 and 4, same thing, rotated 30 degrees in 40 seconds.." Hard to do in the middle of a dog fight, but once you've got air superiority, it can be done.
The squadron leader is also the officer of the unit, even when they're not out flying. He takes on the administrative tasks, oversees training, and that sort of thing.
If sensors sophisticated or long raged enough to direct the airbattle aren't available or don't exist, then the squadron leader will take as active a role as he can. It's just that once the fur begins to fly and a dogfight devolves into one-on-one or two-on-two battles, the squadron leader isn't going to be able to exact many Command or Leadership tasks. It becomes a lot more of an "Okay guys, keep sharp and don't lose your wingman. Here they come!" kind of thing.
To look at the battle of Yavin at the end of Star Wars, Episode IV. The plan as I've always understood it is that Gold squadron in Y-Wings intended to carry out the actual attack on the Death Star, while Red squadron provided top cover in X-wings, keeping the TIE fighters off the strike force. A lot of the radio chatter was Gold leader trying to co-ordinate Gold squadron't attack runs, and keeping Red leader updated on their status. Red leader more or less just turned his boys loose, until Gold squadron was taken out, then Red squadron moved in to try and finish the job.