About the best use of stock footage I've seen. Make no mistake, there are ZERO shots of aircraft flying, taking off, even exteriors on the ramp that are shot for this movie, or even models. It's all tent city on a soundstage, interior of a (probably real but scrapped surplus) B29, and stock footage.
But it sorta works. They voice over things like the crew checking out the plane as the stock footage isn't that great resolution, it's mid shots, and one 50s USAF guy in all his gear looks very much like another.
Falls apart a bit in the action scenes where the footage cannot decide what altitude they are at (and it is scripted, sorta matters), the enemy aircraft are several /different/ USAF aircraft, and... oh, they bomb China. That also was briefed, but they forget when picking impact footage.
Well acted, pretty well scripted. Okay photography, and the in-aircraft scenes are awfully well done; the pilot ones are the only with pretty soundstage blocking, others feel very personal. Apparently had a good advisor, everyone does stuff that at least feels very authentic, everything deliberate.
Yes, the Korean love interest is super duper a white chick, and it's not just racist but is distractingly wrong.
Otherwise the worst thing about the film is the editing. It's just indifferent. Many shots too long, some too short and it cuts between unimportant things. The stock footage also falls prey to this; it could have used 90% less of it, and done almost everything from inside the aircraft, not just as a character study but as claustrophobic action. Those were already the best bits.
