Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Tim Kerr-Thomson Anyone who is an aviation enthusiast will love this movie purely for the footage of the aircraft. However, those same people will hate the movie for the interminable number of factual errors. To people who are not enthusiasts they will not be noticed and make no difference to their opinion of the film. The storyline is very basic and lacks any depth. It really is just good guys vs bad with the obvious outcome. Neither do any of the characters have any depth. They are all over the top "gung ho" types, incessant jokes and smart comments. A little bit of this is OK, but an hour and a half is too much. Despite a well known cast they do nothing to improve the situation. No character shows any signs of stress or trepidation that we know veterans suffer. It seems that this would be a sign of weakness. For the time this movie was made it is understandable as the allies were still celebrating their victory. If you enjoy WW2 propaganda movies or films to do with aviation you will enjoy this movie. However, if you are looking for a good story this is not the film.

maddutchy I first saw this movie on TV in the 60s. My brother and I being aviation nuts, criticized it a lot for little things. Over the years and many viewings on TV, I have come to appreciate it more. Although some of the dialog and characters are "corny", there is more than enough aviation footage to make up for it. When one critiques a movie of people and events, it is useful to consider the time period the movie was produced besides the time period it depicts. In 1948 there were no German aircraft left to fly in the movie and CGI was a long way off. I am much less forgiving of a movie like "Pearl Harbor" that could have used CGI to show correct models of aircraft than one made when "Fighter Squadron" was produced where there were no such resources.Besides being able to see P-47s flying, some of the scenes have a strong sense of history. When they get the orders to prepare for D-Day, I have little doubt those were accurate to history. Using real incidents and characters from the famous 4th Fighter Group of the ETO gives the 'ring of truth' to the movie. For those that think the characters were "formula", you should read "1000 Destroyed", a history of the 4th Fighter Group. The real group actually had its own 'press agent' who wrote the book. The 'Kid' character in the movie may have been a tribute to the real "Kid" Hofer who was KIA while flying with the 4th. Remember that the real pilots of WWII were VERY YOUNG men. Twenty-five was an 'old man' in that group.I think "Fighter Squadron" is a good movie with lots of great airplane scenes that is a fitting tribute to the people that fought WWII for us. It was a serious movie of its day made when the people who had 'fought the fight' were around to watch it. It took license with history as the producers apparently felt necessary to be 'entertaining' to the general audience. It was made at a time when we didn't criticize our veterans or question their actions. It was however more realistic than wartime movies. I too hope it comes out on DVD soon.

ww33biz The first thing that struck me about this movie was the quality of the color, which was excellent. It looked more like a movie made in the 50's than 1948. Like Mr. Padilla, who's informative review also appears in this database, I was momentarily baffled when the enemy planes first appeared in the movie. What's this?, I thought. I know those aren't Messerschmidts, and I recall the Stukas weren't that sleek-looking. What we have here are Mustangs in drag, as it were. I suppose the production company may have used whatever war birds they could lay their hands on. Chaulk one up for artistic license.Once I got over that, I enjoyed the movie. Hollywood must have made a blue million war movies during and after WWII, and I own copies of at least 50 or so of them, but here's one I'd never seen before, nor even heard of. Most of the actors were pleasantly familiar, with Robert Stack being much younger here than I have before seen him. But towards the end of the movie, when all the pilots were gathered in the Ready Room before a mission, I had to do a double take as I looked at the members of the squad in the background. Is that who I think it is, I thought. Sure 'nuff, after the flick ended I came to this website to check the cast list, and there he was, listed as an unspoken actor, Rock Hudson.I haven't yet searched to see if this movie is available on VHS or DVD, but I will. I'd like to own a copy.

inspt71-1 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.