Why is the Lead Aircraft No Longer #1?

[DWReese]

Somewhere in the past updates, a decision was made to not always make the first airplane the LEAD aircraft of the group. For instance:

Cosmo 1
Cosmo 2
Cosmo 3 [LEAD]
Cosmo 4

I was wondering when this was done, and why?

It appears to me that some of the reported issues where the LEAD is listed at one speed and altitude, and the rest are sometimes different, might be somehow connected.

Before I can explore this further, it would be helpful to know what the thinking was when the decision was made to no longer have the first aircraft always be the LEAD.

Thoughts?

[Quixotic1917]

My understanding is that the first aircraft to sortie is always the formation leader, regardless of what its named. The order aircraft take off is determined by a lot of things, like where they're held in the airbase unit. I don't think it has any deeper significance than that.