Stearmann, I'm pretty sure they got it from the AF side of the house, and I'm pretty sure we got the concept from the fighter world. Our normal formation is a two ship and flying further apart than you guys do, more like .5 DME. As an example, if my CHK 2 is falling back near my six, but I want him closer to my 3/9 line, an in place turn (Hook turn) towards 2 will bring him further up. It's not cosmic, it's just a matter of standard terminology. You can do it blacked out, but it's much more difficult to judge aspect and requires more comm.
I'd be a complete mess if you tried it with a four ship, thinking about maintaining control over a four ship spread out that large makes my head hurt.