A Row of Idiots

At the beginning of World War Two, RAF fighter pilots flew in combat in tight "Vee" formations. This formation was completely inadequate for modern air combat. It had initially been thought that it would allow for greater firepower against enemy bombers, but mostly proved to be unflexible. The German tactical formation, the Schwarme, was much more fluid and efficient but early in the war British pilots kept flying that way as there was no time to re-train young pilots to better tactics. German pilots dubbed the RAF formations Idiotenreihen ("rows of idiots") because they left squadrons so vulnerable to attack.