Fighter Squadron (1948)

Strong and Moving!

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The first must-see film of the year.

You list the filming location for the movie "Fighter Squardron" as two airfields in California. At least some of filming took place at Oscoda, Michigan. At that time there was an airfield about three or four miles outside of town called "Oscoda Air Base" and later the name was changed to "Wursmith Air Force Base." Since then the field has been closed.I was eleven or twelve years old at that time going to Oscoda High School. That was a big event for the area and business marquees had welcome signs for the Hollywood crews. I am also somewhat of a WW II buff since I had three brothers and three brother in laws who fought in the war. My father in law lost his life in the D Day invasion leaving his young wife and five year old daughter behind. What still stands out in my mind about the film was when the pilot was shot down and ran throughout the woods to escape the enemy. I recognized the location well since my brother and I was cutting pulp wood a short distance from where the scene was shot. I need to buy that film and refresh my memory.

I read a lot about the history of this campaign. I am pleased to see so many notice that the ME-109s in the combat sequences are actually P-51s in drag. Being a Mustang fan, I would have preferred it the other way around, with the P-51s as the good guys and the P-47s trying to impersonate Focke-Wulf 190s, something they probably wouldn't have been able to do. I always chalked the P-51s-as-109s to Hollywood trying to stay under budget. In those day there were plenty of National Guard P-51 units and any one of them would have been happy to be in the movies, I'm sure. Some of the one General's general orders ring true, like P-47s not being allowed to go below 18,000 feet, but that was because the FW-190 was better that earlier P-47s at those heights. If there was anything that I objected to, it was the idea of a 'test strike' on Berlin with 30 B-17s. Raids of that type are never attempted as half-measures. What actually happened is, the first time we tried for Berlin, the weather got too bad and the mission was recalled. That was March 3, 1944. The next day we tried again and the mission was recalled again, except that one group didn't get the recall message and 30 bombers actually unloaded over Berlin. I have no information as to whether they actually hit what they were aiming at or not. We finally hit 'em on March 6, and went back several times. It's said that when Hermann Goering saw B-17s with fighter escort over Berlin, he knew that Germany would ultimately lose the war.

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.

Great war movie with a good cast. I think this is the very first apparition on screen by Rock Hudson, in a minor acting role. I like it very much because it is mainly a "Republic P-47 Thunderbolt" fighter bomber movie (not P-51 !!) and it is in color. The nazi planes are represented with some P-51 B colored like Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt ME 109s. There are several original Me 109 scattered around the globe and 2, at least, are still flying (an E and G version), in USA and England.. This movie is absolutely a must for all the aviation fan . I sow it since TV in my Country transmitted it several times in recent years, however it seems not yet available in DVD or VHS formats. Also a good memorial for the late Robert Stack,, who died in 2003.