Note the differences in formation spacing here! Delta vs. Diamond lateral spacing equals the three stripes on the wings. Note #4's slightly shifted position in Delta as well. Also pay close attention to where the fore/aft spacing lines up. For Diamond the trailing edge of Lead is aligned with the canopy rail behind the wingmen (same for slot off of #2 and #3). In Delta, the pilots heads are abeam the trailing edges of the wings. In Arrowhead the blue stripe on the nose is abeam the trailing edge of #4 and in Five Card each wingman is further back, with his pitot tube abeam the trailing edge of the aircraft in front. Line abreast is self-explanatory, yet the spacing is as little as half a wingspan to one wing (as shown here)!
Regards,
Lawndart
I thought the same thing first, but I made absolute sure of two things. 1) The spacing from external views are exactly aligning the pilots head with the trailing edge and 2) the missile rails are in alignment as well. The rest of the references are taken from the "official source" with the placing of the missile rail as seen from inside. I agree that it looks spread, but I went out of my way to make sure these were correct as by "the book" describing it from inside as well as crosschecking the position from outside as I captured these.
