rightwingisevil
terrible screenplay with terrible dialog, annoying soundtrack and bad acting, all mixed up by a lousy directing job. the air battle scenes were just horrible to watch, so childishly put together, the machine guns on American fighter planes looked so funny, shooting Nazi planes like playing video games. all the American air force just looked like a bunch of jerks and the patriotic music were just so annoying that you just wanted to use ear plugs to shut out the noise, so annoying and so disturbing. the dialog was also very shallow and naive, making the American soldiers like a bunch of high school drop-outs. this is the first time that i hate to watch a 2nd world war movie. this is perhaps the worst one i've ever watched. a nuisance if compare to movies such as "12 o'clock high".
WarnersBrother
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!
JKwiat5787
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.
bill1518
I have seen this movie two times on late night TV and have enjoyed as much as 12 O'clock High. Although some critics may say it's superficial and more action oriented than 12 O'clock, I think it represents a needed aspect of the WWII air-war. Some parts are taken from actual incidents, like the rescue of a downed fellow pilot by another pilot by landing in a field and picking him up in enemy held territory. P-47 Thunderbolts with drop tanks were used to escort allied bombers until the long range P-51 became available. It is ironic that after the war the air force got rid of the P-47 in favor of the P-51 and that during the Korean war the P-51 suffered high casualties because they were used in a ground attack role in which the P-47 were much more suited. I do hope they come out with it on DVD soon.
AD
