In 1939 the Luftwaffe unlike the RAF had recent combat experience gained during the Spanish Civil War. Werner Mlders was a leading German fighter ace during the Spanish Civil War. On his return from Spain he set about developing new fighter tactics. In combat he replaced the aircraft V formation with a more flexible pair of aircraft known as a “Rotte”; two pairs acting together were a “Schwarm”. With these looser formations the German fighters were often at an advantage over their RAF counterparts. They remain to this day the basis of air combat formations.
