My understanding of the origin of this manoeuvre is that it was evolved during WW2 by the Allied Tactical Air Forces. Basically, the idea was to keep a fighting element at its combat speed until the very last moment before splitting the formation and decelerating rapidly into an approach to land. In case the other side attempted to 'bounce' them whilst allied fighters were slow and dirty with gear and flap down. Thus it was common to keep low and fast as the aerodrome was reached, followed by a hard break into a steep turn with minimum power, selecting gear and flap at the limiting speeds before a curved final turn. The sequence of the break would have been pre-briefed; earlier they were in tight formation but later experience allowed a more fluid tactical formation to be used. The VRIAB - Visual Run In and Break - was taught to all students on even the humble JP in the 70s; later we also used it at the Tactical Weapons Unit at Brawdy on the Hunter. It went something like this:
Approach the aerodrome at 2000 ft, then, when inside the MATZ at about 30 seconds out, on passing the visually significant Initial Point, call 'Initials', descend to 500 ft and fly parallel to the runway on the dead side. If a pair, then lead would be closest to the runway - if a 4-ship then lead would be closest, for a left-hand breal No. 2 would be in fighting wing on lead (60 deg swept and about 50-100 yards back), No.3 in 'pansy battle' about 1000 yards line abreast on lead and No. 4 in fighting wing on No. 3. This would be flown at about 420 KIAS. On passing the threshold, lead would break up and left with airbrake, idle power, 23 flap and 60-75 deg angle of bank. 2 would follow lead, 3 would follow 3 and then 4 would follow. You always kept the other guys 'on the horizon' and aimed for equal spacing downwind - your fellow fliers being your sternest critics! When level downwind at 1000 ft, you selected airbrake in, power up a bit to help the poor little hydraulic pump, then gear down, 38 flap initially until the speed was down to threshold plus about 15 knots, then full flap as you beagn a continuous descending turn onto final, aiming to roll out all nicely stabilised at about 400 ft.
- and it was great fun! But sadly noisy - so quieter, more limp-wristed arrivals later became the norm!