Fighter Squadron

If what you want is a thoughtful, authentic war drama, look elsewhere. This one's hilariously typecast, predictable, rigidly rah-rah, and ... gorgeous in Technicolor. The side story about the conniving sergeant is amusing, but distracting. The dialog is delivered with rapid-fire precision by the accomplished cast, so don't sneeze or you'll miss something.

The star of the picture is the combat footage. Lots and lots of great color footage of planes, some of them making emergency landings and airborne kills.

Oh, and look for a mighty young Rock Hudson in the squadron.

Of course 'Fighter Squadron' employed P-51D Mustangs to depict Luftwaffe Me.109G's. Big deal: how many films use the wrong gear to portray the right gear? (Duh...Hollywood = PRETEND!) No major sin committed, okay? Besides, there's at least one Hollywood film (whose title escapes me at the moment) in which differently-painted bubble-canopied P-51's portray USAAF Mustangs AND Luftwaffe Me.109's.

'Fighter Squadron' is well-paced and the storyline rings true with accounts written by the men of the USAAF who actually flew fighters in the ETO. Yes, the dialogue is a bit "rah-rah," but I challenge anyone who's known fighter pilots to contend that they're not a rah-rah, go-team-go, bunch of daredevils; moreover, the film was made in the context of the postwar flush of victory, in which period there were few who challenged the might or the right of the architects and builders of the Allied victories over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Man oh man, was the young Robert Stack ever so handsome as he was in 'Fighter Squadron'! Edmond O'Brien gives a bristling, aggressive, energetic performance as the squadron's CO. As the commanding general Henry Hull lends his stern dignity to the effort. Tom D'Andrea provides welcome comic relief as the enterprising Sergeant Dolan whose scheming employment of black cats wangles for his character plenty of off-base time in which to shirk his legitimate duties - and to arouse the ire of the black feline-owning English civilian population.

There is a touching plot detail in the handing-down of a killed-in-action pilot's coveted flying boots, which illustrates just one of the many ways in which sentimentality's were expressed by, if not directly revealed or mentioned among themselves, young macho fighter jocks.

Aeroplane nuts can't complain about the abundant color footage of masses of P-47D's of both razorback and bubble-canopy configuration. Despite those irksome P-51D Hollywood "Messerschmitts" there are correct portrayals of much other gear, such as the variety of RAF and USAAF goggles and flying helmets actually worn by USAAF ETO pilots, shearling-lined flight suits and boots, A-2 flight jackets, ground crew coveralls and maintenance gear, and more. Also heartwarming to realist aviation nuts is the war-worn, paint-chipped-and-faded, oil and exhaust streaked condition of the P-47's appearing in the film (which was shot at a USAF base in the Carolinas at which then-obsolescent Thunderbolts were still employed in 1948 to train pilots); none of those glossy, glammed-up-to-perfection movie aircraft in this hard-charging story, although the pristine paint on the "Me.109's" betrays the production company's hurried disguise of their P-51 under skinning.

Extraneous historical detail: one reviewer points out that the P-47N Thunderbolt enjoyed a range superior to that of the P-51 Mustang. True indeed, but the P-47N model came too late for the ETO and, actually, it was developed to provide fighter escort for the long over water missions flown by B-29 crews in the Pacific Theater - the Mustang's liquid-cooled Merlin engine rendered it the second choice for such long flights over the sea, whereas the P-47 Jug's much less finicky, rugged, dependable Pratt & Whitney radial engine recommended itself for pilot survival through such missions. The P&W radial often functioned remarkably well with one or two cylinders shot-off, while no Merlin engine, or any other liquid-cooled aero-engine, absent a cylinder would long provide propulsion sufficient for the sustenance of flight.

In a way, 'Fighter Squadron' was the thrilling 'Top Gun' of its time, with the chief - and significant - difference being that of the two films 'Fighter Squadron' portrays fighter operations and tactics in an actual war - and without, in either film's case, the contextual absurdity of a civilian woman fighter plane instructor.

Does anyone know the title of 'Fighter Squadron's' soundtrack's rousing march theme? The same march was used for several film soundtracks, from among which the only other title I can recall is 1941's 'Dive Bomber.' In sum, 'Fighter Squadron' gives plenty of bang for one's buck. You won't see it on anybody's all-time-greats list, but it's a sound story told tidily which profits from apt casting, superb pacing, and vivid action sequences.

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.

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.

I think this movie is good and it should come out of DVD. The movie is World War II aviation action film covering the story of a Fighter Squadron who's leader wants to try new combat tactics in the skies over Europe. I know many people don't like the use of P-51D Mustangs as ME-109s, but there's a perfectly good explanation for it. There were no ME-109s left after the war and those that survived were being studied by American and British aircraft engineers. Don't let that spoil this movie. I actually found it interesting that they did use P-51s. This film also made good use of actual air combat film which gave this film a realistic view at some of the most gripping combat ever. This is a good one, don't miss it.