Eli5 why do military planes fly in a formation

Question

Does it have specific tactical advantages or is it just cool?

Edit to add: what about specific types of formations, like a Flying V vs a Diamond vs whatever else they can do?

In: 797

Answer 1

You know, at first I wondered why there were SO many fighter pilots in this subreddit.

But then –

“fighter pilots” + “explain like I’m five”

Let’s just say I didn’t need ALSA to call that picture…

Joke source: am GCI dude