Fighter Squadron

Fighter Squadron_720p(480P)

source: Fighter Squadron

Trailer—Fighter Squadron

Fighter Squadron

I just want to add this to all the excellent technical comment by others, because I am surprised that no one else has said this: "Fighter Squadron" is the third filming of the plot for "The Dawn Patrol", which Warner's made in 1930 and again in 1938 (both are excellent, by the way). The setting basically switches from WWI to WW2, and some changes are made to accommodate the postwar audience. I THINK this was recycled for a Korean war title as well, but can't recall the name, so don't quote me. A personal note: I, too am a former Air Force pilot from the '70s/'80s (F4E, then F-15), and this movie was one of the ones that made me want to fly when I saw it on TV as a kid, along with the great lost "I Wanted Wings". So the heck with the technical details, once I hear that Max Steiner score, I'm ready to settle down for a great popcorn movie!

Fighter Squadron, filmed in Technicolor, tells the story of a P-47 Thunderbolt unit assigned to the 8th Army Air Corps prior to and during D-Day. The aircraft used in the film were perhaps the last P-47's flying for the Air National Guard before jets were issued. Lots of actual gun camera footage of air to air kills and strafing ground targets. An early scene shows Edmund O'Brian, (CPT Ed Hardin) bringing in a crippled P-47, belly lands on the field and actual combat footage makes this scene realistic. The movie crew had to set an actual P-47 in a hole dug next to the field to make it look like it belly'd in. The German fighters however, were actually P-51 Mustangs painted in German markings. If you like watching WWII aircraft in action, you'll love Fighter Squadron. Look for a very young Rock Hudson in one of the Officers Club scenes.

I enjoyed this movie as an AF veteran and a nephew of a fighter pilot who flew in an England based squadron. I am not sure if I would have enjoyed the movie as much without that personal investment. The production is not that impressive. The story of the maverick fighter pilot having to accept responsibility after being thrust into a leadership role was fairly predictable, in 2006. Maybe it was new and refreshing in 1948, but this is not a classic, must have, multifaceted war classic. However, it is a good viewing, once every few years, if you are a WWII buff. The inaccuracies and location problems are lost when I view the actual combat footage. The personal stories are consistent with reality, even though not told well.

A rollicking WWII film and a treat for fans of the P-47 Thunderbolt. The flying scenes are great and (if I remember correctly) one of the USAAF fighter pilots actually asks a question about who plays for the Dodgers in order to smoke out false orders radioed to the Group by the Germans. Worth a look-see.

This movie was on TCM recently; I'd missed it in 1948. The action shots were superb in using actual footage from the cameras mounted on fighter planes. There were lots of technical goofs in using P-51's adorned with swastikas to portray the German Airforce and most importantly, there were NO invasion stripes painted on the P-47's during the sequences supposedly over France on June 6, 1944. As a WWII Air Force Veteran, in spite of these omissions -- probably only noticeable to one who was there -- I admired the editing and it was interesting to see some of today's movie & TV stars in minor roles. For movies of that era, "Twelve O'Clock High" was far more technically accurate.

An enjoyable movie. Loaded with clichés and the usual Hollywood gaffes (Like using P-51's for ME-109's), but none the less one of the better flying movies produced in the forties. It has, arguably some of the best flying movie footage of all of the flying type movies produced in that decade. I would buy this one if I could get it from a supplier. I finally was able to make an off the air copy from the TCM channel on satellite the other night. The choice of cast is excellent. Future film star Rock Hudson is wooden in his one liner in the Officers Club, but you gotta start somewhere. And this was his first movie part. If you like airplanes (fighter planes), you'll like this one.