1948 “Fighter Squardon” Movie Gun Camera Footage Pt. 4

[Rob Romero]

Another Gun Camera discussion from the 1948 COLOR WWII flick “Fighter Squadron” which as stated previously has some great color footage of Air National Guard P-47s and P-51s (the Mustangs as Bf-109G stand ins). Some of the P-47N take-off, landing, formation, belly tank drop footage is remarkable. The gun camera footage is preserved in a slightly higher quality from what is usually found online and may thus reveal new details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Il1JH5ujIk&t=896s

At 14:54 you can see a great color shot of the underside of a steeply banked Fw-190A with a yellow lower cowling and pale gray/beige underside and crisp balkenkreuz brightly illuminated by the sun. Most of that clip is blurry because of movement from the camera (perhaps shot on a swivel mounted slipstream buffeted camera in the waist gun position of a B-17) but with some effort you can find one surprisingly sharp frame. I have seen that clip before (though not in as good quality) probably from one of the color WWII B-17 documentaries Memphis Belle (4 Apr 1944) or the Clarke Gable narrated Combat America (released Jan 1945) both filmed in 1943.

[Jim P.]

Enough with the fleeting aircraft images from gun camera film. If you want film of LW aircraft go to https://archiv-akh.de/

There are a couple of thousand of collected WWII German films at that site - including a lot of LW stuff.

There are also bits & pieces on You Tube like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpKEC8w_C4U&t=53s where you can find short clips of Rudi Pflanz and one of his Bf 109Fs (around 12:30) from German sources.

[Rob Romero]

Hey man, if it doesn't interest you there is a very simple solution -DON'T CLICK ON THE THREAD. Based on hundreds of viewings others have found this of interest for reasons stated in the initial paragraph "header."

[Jim P.]

Way to completely miss the point of what I was trying to suggest to you.

[Rob Romero]

"Enough with the fleeting aircraft images from gun camera film."

There is a difference between footage taken in ideal conditions by one's own side and color footage taken in WWII combat by enemy combatants. In "Pt. 4" I believe the shot of the Fw-190A was taken "while under attack" by a camera mounted on a swivel on one of the waist gun ports of a B-17 (perhaps even shaken in the slipstream) making the 1 or 2 clear frames one the more remarkable film stills in combat history IMO.

[Broncazonk]

There are two exceptionally clear frames at 14:55.

** The aircraft is clean, it shows no indication of a centerline, belly tank rack?! **

Please identify the aircraft at 15:00 - 15:02. I'm thinking that is a Fw-190D-9, no? If so, that is very rare film!

Bronc

[Rob Romero]

Very unclear footage so hard to tell. Rudder/Vertical Stabilizer looks like FW however the cockpit area seems more like a "greenhouse" type for multiple crew. Mebe an IJN B6N2 Tenzan torpedo bomber.

[Broncazonk]

Perhaps a B7A2 Ryusei Kai (Grace)?

It's really long. Ta-152H-1 < ?!!!!

Bronc