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Thread: Fighter Squadron (movie)

  1. #1
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Fighter Squadron (movie)

    I'm shifting this conversation from the "Normandy" thread.... the discussion centers on the use of P-51D Mustangs as Messerschmidts in this 1948 movie.

    Quote Originally Posted by Floatsflyer View Post
    They could have used real combat footage and cockpit close-ups(mock ups), models and special effects like so many other flying movies from the 40's depicting war in Europe and the Pacific. This production was pure laziness and stupidity.
    One problem with using actual combat footage is that the movie was in color, but nearly all the wartime footage (especially of German aircraft) is in black-and-white. The movie studio might have preferred having footage matching for a more immersive experience. "Twelve O'Clock High" could get away with it, since it was in black and white.

    Models and mockups of that era aren't very good. The models don't exhibit flight very well...typically the turns are flat, and they sometimes bobble at the end of the wires.

    Mockups? Two words: "Flying Tigers." The John Wayne epic had some very horrible mockups (some taxiable) purporting to represent P-40s. Even the cockpit mockups are bad.

    Use of actual airplanes...even the WRONG airplanes... avoids these issues. Actors sit in real airplanes, generally wearing accurate flying gear.

    I haven't seen "Fighter Squadron" for ~20 years, and actually don't have that good of an opinion on it...from the story/plot aspects, not necessarily the effects. I cringe at the Mustangs as well, and wish they'd at least got the German markings right. I don't even remember the movie well enough to remember whether there were that many scenes that really required "German" fighters.

    But I don't really consider the producers lazy. They had to scour the US for P-47s (which is why the markings don't match) and got the California Air Guard to supply the Mustangs. Models and mockups would have been a lot easier.

    I'm somewhat a purist for military movies...the bad Lewis guns in "Dawn Patrol," the "Panther" tank (actually an American Sherman) chasing the crippled P-40 in "Death Race," or the Merlin-engined Hispanos in "Battle of Britain"...they all bother me a bit. But I give the producers credit for having those fake Lewises on real Nieuports, Lloyd Bridges commanding an actual tank, and, of course, the incredible dogfights in BOB.

    Ron Wanttaja

  2. #2
    dewi8095's Avatar
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    I watched Fighter Squadron on Thursday and after it was over I wished I had spent my time on something else. Not a great movie. The number of P-47s in some of the scenes was impressive, though.

    Don

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