Reference John Farley's post:-
My understanding was that, if you held the correct echelon position, relative movement was obvious and corrections could be applied as required. Dropping back was stressed as very bad due to increased risks from the lead aircraft turbulence/ wingtip vortex, especially with even a slight crosswind. The difficulty of seeing relative movement was also obvious from a distance, (danger of excessive overtake). I appreciate that what he was saying was the reverse of this but the end result is the same.
It was therefore, 'start from the correct echelon position and stay there, or, stream (5, 10 secs) and join up in the air.
Landing was achieved by keeping the echelon position, power on, until after the flare when lead would delay power off after the 'cut' call to give nose/tail separation.
Of course, it could be just my memory-----!