Combat Box - Fifteenth Air Force Formations

Fifteenth Air Force Formations

The Fifteenth Air Force, consisting of a preponderance of B-24 groups flying at altitudes 5,000 feet (1,500 m) or more lower than those flown by the B-17 groups in the Eighth Air Force, employed a larger group box during the period of December 1943 to July 1944. Called the "six-box formation", it consisted of forty aircraft, with the group divided into two units of twenty B-24s, one behind the other, and each unit consisted of three squadron boxes.

The center squadron (known as Able Box) of the first unit was a composite formation of six aircraft containing the group leader, with the deputy leader flying on its wing. The other four aircraft of Able Box were from the two squadrons assigned to the unit for that mission, with the six bombers formed in two vee formations in trail and stepped lower in altitude. On each side of the lead squadron were seven-bomber boxes called Baker Box (to the right) and Charlie Box (to the left), each box made up of bombers of one squadron, also in vees of three, with one additional bomber flying in the slot of the center rear (sixth position) of each squadron box, and known as "Tail-end Charlie." This position was usually flown by the least experienced crew in the squadron and was vulnerable to fighter attack, so perilous that it was commonly called the "coffin corner". The second unit of the group formation was configured identically, except that its boxes were named Dog, Easy, and Fox. Each position within a box was numbered, so that the group leader flew the Able One position while the Tail-end Charlie of the leftmost rear squadron flew Fox Seven. The second unit flew at an altitude approximately 500 ft (150 m) lower than the first unit.

Because it was laterally wide, the six-box formation was not a compact formation, was cumbersome to fly, and thus was less efficient in bombing accuracy. The Fifteenth Air Force adopted the diamond formation during the summer of 1944 to increase its bombing accuracy, but this also had the negative consequences of increasing losses to flak. This formation reduced the number of boxes from six to four, each flying three 3-plane elements with a Tail-end Charlie. As with the six-box formation, the trailing elements were stacked downward from the high leader, and the Tail-end Charlie of the fourth box (Dog Ten) was often referred to as "the Purple Heart position". The four-box formation proved easier to assemble and organize, provided a tight bomb pattern, and concentrated defensive firepower against fighter attacks.