Masters of the Air Shows A Side of WWII We’ve Never Seen Before
In Masters of the Air, the soldiers of the 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth, embark on treacherous bombing raids over Nazi Germany during WWII. They battle lack of oxygen, frigid conditions, and the sheer terror of fighting thousands of feet in the air. Not shying away from the psychological effects of war, the series portrays the emotional price these men paid in order to destroy Hitler’s Third Reich. Men’s fate varied from being shot down and captured to being wounded or killed. As some men were lucky enough to make it home, they still paid a toll we could never imagine.
The series is based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name and recounts real men’s stories of their experiences during the war. All of the main characters are based on real people who fought for the United States against Nazi German, and lived to tell the tale. Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman collaborated on the series to serve alongside other critically acclaimed historical war dramas like Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
War reenactments have been done time and time again in film and television. We’ve even seen modern warfare portrayed in the skies in hit movies like Top Gun: Maverick, but what Masters of the Air achieves that no one has done before is the true portrayal of aerial combat in WWII. There is nothing more terrifying than the poor armor and seemingly archaic technology these men relied on. The bravery they showed in times of absolute horror reinstates my pride and gratitude for the men that have served our country.
The technology we have today to portray such violent events brings us closer to fully understanding the scope of what life in these wars were actually like. The series dives into every role that men serving played in defeating Germany. Pilots were the main focus, but we got to see what the navigators, bombers, shooters, and engineers all contributed to the success of these missions.
The real heart and through line of the series is Major Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven (Austin Butler) and Major John ‘Bucky’ Egan’s (Callum Turner) friendship throughout the toughest of battles. The duo gets separated when Buck’s plane gets shot down during a mission. Bucky grapples with the possibility of his friend's death or capture into German territory while continuing to fight. The two are reunited at a prisoner of war camp when Bucky is captured by Germans after his plane is shot down. Butler and Turner both had standout performances in the series by conveying such a deep range of emotions with subtle but moving actions.
We have seen many times the absolute horrors of concentration camps and Jewish treatment during WWII, but the experiences of prisoner of war camps has not been widely depicted. Not only were these men reuniting with their comrades, but they were also unsure of their fate in the hands of German soldiers. In the series, we get a closer look at these camps and the marches they were forced to embark on towards the end of the war as the allied forces closed in on Germany.
We also get a closer look at some unsung heroes of the war. Major Crosby (Anthony Boyle), who narrates throughout the series, portrays the skill and work of being a navigator. He plans missions for the entire bomb group including an occasion where he stayed up for 72 hours straight to plot the aerial attack for D-Day. He struggles with the responsibility of planning missions and waiting for his men to return to the base.
As an American war story, Masters of the Air highlights a group of unsung heroes. As viewers, we get a deep dive into what aerial combat looked like during WWII — a rarely seen aspect of the war. The friendship, support, and loss these men faced is a testament to the American spirit and pursuit to risk their lives in order to protect and fight for others. This series is a must-watch tentpole title for Apple TV+.
Masters of the Air is streaming on Apple TV+.
