In 2001 HBO put out a show called Band of Brothers following a real-life paratrooper company through most of the major events of WWII's European theater. It was essentially a follow-up to Saving Private Ryan (1998), but better, with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as the show's creators and executive producers. I wrote about it for both my D-Day post and included it in my list of top single season TV last month. Yes, to reiterate, you should watch it if you haven't. But that's also not the purpose of this post.
In 2010 came The Pacific (again HBO and produced by Spielberg/Hanks) jumping to the other side of the world, the grinding island hopping against the Empire of Japan. While the production quality, acting, all of it remained top-notch, I struggled to connect to the same extent as Band of Brothers. This I credit to the brutal nature of the fighting, it was not only hard to watch but there also couldn't be the same kind of continuity with a single group of men all the way through. It needed to be more disjointed. Still an incredible series though.
In 2024, just last year, AppleTV+ (new leader in prestige television?) released another companion to these great WWII mini-series called Masters of the Air. Spielberg and Hanks were once more involved and, like Band of Brothers, this was based on a single book and largely follows a single group of men. This time it's the 100th Bomb Group, based in England, the pilots, their B-17 'Flying Fortresses' and the war over Europe. It was a promising proposition from the start.
Unlike Band of Brothers, which starts with D-Day (June 1944), Masters of the Air is about the lead-up to the largest invasion in history. That's nearing the end of the story for those fighting in the skies. We first meet the airmen (including the leads played by Austin Butler and Callum Turner) in the spring of 1943, when a big squadron flies in from Greenland. They're put into the thick of it right away, breaching Fortress Europe is no joke, and the fliers (as well as viewers) rapidly get familiar with 'flak' (anti-aircraft artillery) and the Luftwaffe (the German air force). That first mission is a failure, they don't even drop their bombs, and yet lose multiple aircraft and crews.
The attrition only gets worse as they move forward. American losses are pretty staggering and there's (fair!) discussion about overall strategy. The RAF (Brits, the 'Royal Air Force') only conducts night raids, flying under cover of darkness and more-or-less blindly dropping their bombs. This is safer for their airmen but involves little accuracy with their payloads. They don't seem to care. The American strategy involves only day-time raids, which is much riskier but also highly effective in eliminating high priority targets. So the day-time flying continues and losses mount. One piece I didn't know is that the B-17s in these earlier missions fly without fighter cover. The Allied fighter planes didn't have the range to escort all the way to the target, and the only way the bombers could protect themselves was with onboard guns. These big, slow moving aircraft needed tight formations to protect one another or they were sitting ducks for the Luftwaffe. And, no surprise, after a few episodes it feels like the 100th is going to run out of men. What was most jarring is all the pilots are officers, like captains and majors. A lot of officers go down.
We do get more than a birds-eye view of the war, or, to put it another way, not every airman from a downed plane dies. As a result we get to see what happens on the ground if they first encounter, for example, the resistance in Belgium/France. Or the Soviets on the far side of the eastern front. Or if, indeed, they're taken within the Reich and head to one of the Luftwaffe prison camps. (There's a Great Escape (1963) connection!)
The show well captures the huge range of emotions these men underwent. The dread when the light goes on and a new mission is imminent. The suffocation and madness of dealing with flak day after day and the loss of so many compatriots. The relief of completing a mission. The ecstasy of the few that meet their mission quota and get to go home, but also how it might feel to actually leave. The waiting game on base until the planes return, and the plane count as they come into view. The devastation when disaster strikes, if perhaps you weren't there or you planned the whole operation. It's a lot. Then there's everything the downed pilots experience.
A few other bits were interesting too, in particular as V-E day approached. The longer range P-51 'Mustang' was a game-changer, a critical reason we achieved air superiority, and it was fun to see them alongside the flotilla all the way over Europe. Getting to know a few of the Tuskegee Airmen was a treat as well, and did not (overly) feel shoehorned in (they weren't part of the 100th). And, as with everything D-Day, it's always jaw-dropping to take in the sheer scope of that day. So many aircraft.
My wife and I recently finished watching this together, a real rarity these days, and it was really good all around. It's an entirely different view of the war, and one that should be remembered. Those men have amazing stories, and sacrificed a ton.
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