Missing man formation

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Pilots assigned to Carrier Air Wing Three (CVW-3) perform a Missing Man Flyover formation, above USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), during a wreath laying ceremony held on the flight deck in memory of Capt. Franklin Hooks II, who was killed while taking part in a training exercise on June 27, 2004.

The missing man formation is an aerial salute performed as part of a flyover of aircraft at a funeral or memorial event, typically in memory of a fallen pilot. The missing man formation is often called "the missing man flyby". (Note: the term flypast is used in the UK, the Commonwealth and in other territories for flyover or flyby.) The missing man formation varies, using either pull-up, split-off, or empty-position variations.

Description

Several variants of the formation are seen. The formation most commonly used in the United States is based on the "finger-four" four-aircraft combat formation. The aircraft fly in a V-shape, with the flight leader at the point and his wingman following his right. The second-element leader follows on the flight leader's left, and his wingman follows on his left. Thus, as seen from the front, the V's left leg is longer than its right. This formation flies over the ceremony low enough to be clearly seen, and when directly over the site, the second-element leader executes an abrupt pull-up, while the rest of the formation continues in level flight until all aircraft are out of sight.

In other variations, the flight approaches from the south, preferably near sundown, and one of the aircraft will suddenly split off to the west, flying into the sunset. When a large number of aircraft are used, they simply fly in an unchanging formation, but with a position in that formation conspicuously empty.

In all cases, the person performing the pull-up, split off, or being missing, represents the fact that the person (or persons) honored has died. It is often considered to be bad luck or in poor taste to stare at the formation, and especially the aircraft departing the formation. This may be a superstition among pilots that looking at the missing man dooms you to be next.

History

F-15s in the missing man formation flying over the USS Arizona memorial in Hawaii.

The first funeral flyover of aircraft occurred during World War I, when British fighter pilots honored the funeral of German ace Manfred von Richthofen ("the Red Baron"). Flyovers of airfields became standard practice in the Royal Air Force, to show the ground crews how many survivors had returned from a mission. In 1936, King George V of the United Kingdom received the first recorded flyover for a non-RAF funeral.

The United States adopted the tradition in 1938 during the funeral for Major General Oscar Westover with over 50 aircraft and one blank file. By the end of World War II, the missing man formation had evolved to include the pull-up. In April 1954, United States Air Force General Hoyt Vandenberg was buried at Arlington National Cemetery without the traditional horse-drawn artillery caisson. Instead, Vandenberg was honored by a flyover of jet aircraft with one plane missing from the formation.

Also in 1954, Captain Joseph McConnell was killed while testing a modified F-86 Sabre at Edwards Air Force Base, California, which was later made into a movie called The McConnell Story, featuring the formation multiple times.

In December 2004, as a final tribute to his former military role in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, three modern F-16 jet fighters and a World War II Spitfire performed a missing man formation during the funeral of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

See also

• Flypast
• Riderless horse