above normal, a power which cannot fail to be of real tactical value.
§ 94. Air Fleet must he Homogeneous. It is a fact which cannot be too strongly stated that the independent air fleet must be homogeneous. It must be composed of units of approximately the same capacity of speed and climbing power; the range of its weapons also should be the same. As a counsel of perfection, the fleet should be of one design, mounting one standard type of gun, using one kind of ammunition. Owing to the need for aeronautical ascendancy, we have seen that the armament cannot be of the heaviest; it may more often than not be individually less powerful than that of its opponent. The independent air fleet must therefore base its strength on its numerical superiority. It is precisely here that the need for homogeneity becomes manifest. Properly to assert the power of numbers, the whole fleet must come into action as nearly as possible as a single unit; in brief, it must concentrate the whole power of its combined fire on the numerically inferior enemy, and so take full advantage of the n-square law. No fleet can accomplish this unless its components are able to move and act in concert; thus the slowest vessel in a fleet must regulate its speed, and that which has the weakest armament the battle range.[1] In the case of the air fleet also we have the slowest climber determining the rate of ascent.
§ 95. Air Tactics. Formation Flying. In order that the air fleet shall be brought into action as a single unit, it is not only necessary that it should be in its constitution homogeneous, as already pointed out, but it must also be handled in some definite formation. Where the numbers are moderate, as, for example, in the handling of a single squadron, the formation adopted
- ↑ The range of the armament in an aerial engagement is mainly a question of muzzle velocity, not calibre.
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