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.