Missing man formation
Encyclopedia
Salute
A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organizations and civil people also use salutes.-Military salutes:...
performed as part of a flyover
Flypast
Flypast is a term used in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and other countries to denote ceremonial or honorific flights by groups of aircraft and, rarely, by a single aircraft...
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
Flypast
Flypast is a term used in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and other countries to denote ceremonial or honorific flights by groups of aircraft and, rarely, by a single aircraft...
". (Note: the term flypast
Flypast
Flypast is a term used in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and other countries to denote ceremonial or honorific flights by groups of aircraft and, rarely, by a single aircraft...
is sometimes 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-fourFinger-four
The "Finger-four" formation , is a flight formation used by fighter aircraft. It consists of four aircraft, and four of these formations can be combined into a squadron formation.- Description :...
" aircraft combat formation composed of two two-aircraft elements. The aircraft fly in a V-shape with the flight leader at the point and his wingman on his left. The second element leader and his wingman fly to his right. (See photo) The formation flies over the ceremony low enough to be clearly seen and the element leader abruptly pulls up out of the formation while the rest of the formation continues in level flight until all aircraft are out of sight.
In an older variant the formation is flown with the second element leader position conspicuously empty. In another variation, 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.
In all cases, the aircraft performing the pull-up, split off, or missing from the formation, represents the fact that the person (or persons) being honored has died.
History
In 1936, King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
received the first recorded flypast for a non-RAF funeral. The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
adopted the tradition in 1938 during the funeral for Major General Oscar Westover
Oscar Westover
Oscar M. Westover was a major general and fourth chief of the United States Army Air Corps.-Biography:He was born in Bay City, Michigan and enlisted in the Army when he was 18. He began his service as a private in 1901 before being appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point...
with over 50 aircraft and one blank file. By the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the missing man formation had evolved to include the pull-up. In April 1954, United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
General Hoyt Vandenberg
Hoyt Vandenberg
Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg was a U.S. Air Force general, its second Chief of Staff, and second Director of Central Intelligence....
was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
without the traditional horse-drawn artillery caisson. Instead, Vandenberg was honored by a flyover of jet aircraft with one plane missing from the formation.
In December 2004, as a final tribute to Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld , later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, was prince consort of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and father of six children, including the current monarch Queen Beatrix....
's former military role in the Royal Netherlands Air Force
Royal Netherlands Air Force
The Royal Netherlands Air Force , Dutch Koninklijke Luchtmacht , is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Its ancestor, the Luchtvaartafdeling of the Dutch Army was founded on 1 July 1913, with four pilots...
, three modern F-16 jet fighters and a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
performed a missing man formation during his funeral.
Motorsport variant
The missing man formation is also used in various types of motorsport to commemorate the death of a driver, rider, or official. During the pace laps before the race begins, the driver in the pole positionPole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
drops back a row into the second row and the field paces with no vehicle in the lead position.
Culture
Several movies and TV series show the missing man formation.- Courage Under FireCourage Under FireCourage Under Fire is a 1996 film directed by Edward Zwick, and starring Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Damon. It is one of the first films to depict the 1991 Gulf War.-Plot:...
, with four fighters for a helicopter pilot - The McConnell StoryThe McConnell StoryThe McConnell Story is a dramatization of the life and career of U.S. Air Force pilot Joseph C. McConnell , who served as a navigator in World War II before becoming the top American ace during the Korean War. He was killed while serving as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave...
: Squadron with blank - Several episodes of JAGJAG (TV series)JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...
(in the US Navy) - Iron EagleIron EagleIron Eagle is a 1986 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Jason Gedrick and Louis Gossett, Jr. While it received mixed reviews, the film earned US$24,159,872 at the U.S. box office. Iron Eagle was followed by three sequels: Iron Eagle II, Aces: Iron Eagle III and Iron Eagle on the...
, requested over radio by the friend of a missing pilot - HeroesHeroes (TV series)Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...
: Season 4, Episode 14, "Upon This RockUpon This Rock (Heroes)"Upon This Rock" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes, the seventy-first episode overall. It is the first episode in a back-to-back series return after the 2009 holiday hiatus...
", ends with a missing man formation over a funeral - Babylon 5Babylon 5Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
: The episode "Legacies" directly refers to the human traditions of the riderless horse and the missing man formation - The Right Stuff
- ArmageddonArmageddon (film)Armageddon is a 1998 American disaster film, directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and released by Disney's Touchstone Pictures. The film follows a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth...
: Flyby at the end of the film. 6 fighters with 1 peeling away - Transformers: Beast WarsTransformers: Beast WarsTransformers: Beast Wars is a Transformers toyline released by Hasbro between 1995 and 2000, and a Daytime Emmy Award winning full-CG animated television series spawned by it that debuted in 1996...
: Flying Maximals after Dinobot's death (Code of Hero) - Ace Combat 5: The Unsung WarAce Combat 5: The Unsung War, released in the PAL region as Ace Combat: Squadron Leader, is a semi-realistic flight combat video game for the PlayStation 2. Like other titles in Namco's Ace Combat series, Ace Combat 5 features gameplay that is a mix between arcade flight and authentic flight simulation...
: 4 fighters with 1 peeling away following Captain Alvin "Chopper" Davenport's demise.