# Movie, “Devotion” — any warbirds fans here?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** movies\
**Created:** [August 2, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973 "2022-08-02T15:20:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/1 "2022-08-02T15:20:28Z")

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This looks very interesting. Any warbirds fans here? I  
know we have a few…

Here is the movie trailer —

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-2qpKUExOnE/maxresdefault.jpg "DEVOTION - Official Teaser Trailer (HD)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2qpKUExOnE)

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/2 "2022-08-02T20:19:04Z")

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I’m no great warbird fan nowadays, but I grew up around them.

I have to say it won’t be but another few years before the last WWII-era airplane will be gone and these movies will have to be CGI or nothing. The days of getting a dozen B-25s or F-4Us or whatever in one place are already over. Now it’s one or two of a type.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/3 "2022-08-03T18:35:52Z")

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I love the Corsair. My favorite WWII-era fighter. This is the Korean war, and the Corsair was still a front-line plane. I’ll definitely be seeing this.

There are still about 40 airworthy Corsairs out there, and another 20 or so being restored to airworthy status. I’m guessing that of all the WWII era fighters only the P-51 Mustang and maybe the Spitfire have more airworthy planes left.

Time for a reboot of 'Baa Baa Blacksheep"…Speaking of that show, they had 8 Corsairs and made them look like much more by filming the same planes from multiple angles and adding in some historical footage of larger formations. For a modern movie, a formation shot of Corsairs would probably include a couple real ones for the closeups and CGI for the rest.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/4 "2022-08-03T18:46:20Z")

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What were the straight wing planes? A-1 Skyraiders? I couldn’t get a good look from the trailer.

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/5 "2022-08-03T19:10:07Z")

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> [@Sam\_Stone](#):
>
> only the P-51 Mustang and maybe the Spitfire have more airworthy planes left.

I could be wrong (and too lazy to look it up), but it seems to me there are very few Spits still flying.

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**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/6 "2022-08-03T19:31:48Z")

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> [@Gatopescado](#):
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> I could be wrong (and too lazy to look it up), but it seems to me there are very few Spits still flying.

‘About’ 60 [per this site](https://flyaspitfire.com/five-little-known-spitfire-facts).

> Around 240 are known to exist. Of these, around 60 are airworthy. 70-odd are used for static display and around 110 across the world are either held in storage or are being actively restored.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/7 "2022-08-03T19:35:27Z")

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Yeah, Spitfires and Corsairs are both in that range. There are still hundreds of Mustangs flying around, though. It’s by far the most common WWII fighter plane still flying.

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**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/8 "2022-08-03T19:50:40Z")

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Sure looked like SPADs.

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**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/9 "2022-08-03T19:58:15Z")

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Ooo, so cool. Another Corsair fan here. Even if that’s a terrible movie, I’ll see it.

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/10 "2022-08-03T20:17:03Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> What were the straight wing planes? A-1 Skyraiders? I couldn’t get a good look from the trailer.

Are they Bearcats? I’d need to rewatch it to be sure.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/11 "2022-08-03T20:31:28Z")

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Pretty sure they are Skyraiders, but I didn’t get a good look. Bearcats weren’t used in Korea, as far as I know. The Corsairs and Skyraiders were almost exclusively used for ground support, which is the role shown in the clip,

I wonder if the movie will depict the encounter where a Corsair shot down a MiG-15, before getting shot down itself.

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**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/12 "2022-08-04T03:14:48Z")

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I was reading Wikipedia about Corsairs in Korea and came up on this:  
[Lieutenant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant) [Thomas J. Hudner, Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Hudner,_Jr.), flying an F4U-4 of VF-32 off [USS _Leyte_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Leyte_(CV-32)), was awarded the [Medal of Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor) for crash landing his Corsair in an attempt to rescue his squadron mate, Ensign [Jesse L. Brown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_L._Brown), whose aircraft had been forced down by antiaircraft fire near [Changjin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changjin). Brown, who did not survive the incident, was the U.S. Navy’s first African American naval aviator.

I’m guessing this is what the movie is about.

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-devotion-any-warbirds-fans-here/968973/13 "2023-08-08T00:49:30Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> What were the straight wing planes? A-1 Skyraiders? I couldn’t get a good look from the trailer.

They were F8F Bearcats. Bearcats and Corsairs were the predominant planes in this movie. More so for the Corsair. At the very end they showed a Skyraider or two, but they were not flying they were only pictures.

A year after this thread started, I finally watched the movies just now. With other talk about warbirds I remembered that I hadn’t seen this yet. And now that I’m retired I have the time to watch it.

The movie was just pretty okay. Lots of slow boring parts in the middle. However the ending was better. But overall the place was slow and the story was not all that interesting. I did like how it is based on a true story and you see that in the ending credits.

The Corsair is one of my favorite WWII American single seat planes. I’m a fan. That, along with the Mustang and the Lightning.
