[stephen_g]

I saw a good analysis by a pilot who does this kind of formation flying (and I think who knew some of the people involved). I think this is before the preliminary NTSB report was released, so it is speculative, but his view was that there was a pretty good likelihood that the shape of the P-63 probably meant that the pilot probably lost sight of the B-17 for a decent amount of time during the turn, and that while we don't yet know exactly where the planes were supposed to be in the formation, his view from the ADS-B data was that the pattern seemed to be just plain dangerous and shouldn't have been done without vertically separating the slower planes (B-17 etc.) and the faster planes.

EDIT: I think it was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C342dfNPCyg

[jt2190]

Here’s a link directly to the point in the video where he demonstrates how it’s possible for the P63 pilot to not see the B17:

https://youtu.be/C342dfNPCyg?t=351