P-47 "Thunderbolt" pilots during WWII were a very brave bunch--and they suffered amazing combat-fatigue due to the style fighting they often did. While the P-47 was a great fighter plane, it was also an amazing ground attack aircraft and eventually that became its main role in Europe--destroying ANYTHING that moved on the ground. Trains, trucks, tanks and especially ground troops were its targets and apparently the pilots suffered because they could see their victims--up close and personal. Well, although "Fighter Squadron" is about the P-47, you'd think that the pilots loved this sort of duty and you never hear them talk about this aspect of their jobs. Instead, the film is pretty clichéd and mostly the men are upset that they can't kill more Germans. In fact, this is all fun, as you hear the hero (Edmond O'Brien) rattle off James Bond-like banter each time he blows up a train or building or mows down a company of men or shoot down a plane (filled, by the way, with pilots who yell 'schwein' all the time they're on camera).
Now this isn't my only complaint about the film. Some of the complaints are about sloppy continuity such as the use of Japanese planes as fodder for the 47s--even though this took place in the European theater. Another sloppy bit is seeing O'Brien's plane bedecked with victory symbols for downed German planes--and yet when this plane makes a belly landing, it has entirely different paint--and no victory symbols. Just a bit of concern about continuity could have easily taken care of these problems. However, I could ignore that all the German fighters were actually American P-51 fighters, as flyable German planes just weren't available for the shoot. The other major complaint I allude to above--the movie has little depth--it's all good fun as well as arguing with the higher authorities to let them do more. And, the characters all seemed more like caricatures than people.
This isn't to say the film is all bad. Most of the stock footage is pretty good and the battle sequences are pretty good. Also, the acting (when people aren't yelling) is decent. Not a great film by any standard but one of the few to talk about one of the most important planes and group of men from WWII.
