Tag: Second World War

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Nine

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Nine

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.  

In the final episode of Masters of the Air, we see the episode successfully bringing the plots of the US 100th Bomb Group to a satisfying conclusion. It did well as an episode designed to finish the series and bring it to a successful landing. During the episode, we see the major characters resolve their past and begin to face their futures. Major Harry Crosby struggles with the nature of the air war and toils with how he has changed during the war. This is something that he struggled with after the war, like most veterans. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rosenthal saw the Holocaust first-hand as he toured a concentration camp after he was shot down and rescued by troops from the Soviet Union’s Red Army. After the war, Rosenthal participated in the prosecution of Nazi officials at Nuremberg for their roles in the Holocaust. Finally, we see Majors Gale Clevan and John Egan face the horrors of the march from Stalag Luft III to their new camp at Mooseberg. During the march, Egan finally embraces the leadership role he had tried to avoid throughout the series.

The episode begins with Rosenthal and the 100th Bomb Group attacking Berlin in February 1945. During the raid, Rosenthal is shot down for the second time in the war. As his plane falls out of formation, he makes his way towards the Soviet lines east of Berlin. By buying this time, he gave his crew the best opportunity to be rescued by the Soviets. After Rosenthal bails out and lands behind the Soviet lines, the viewers get their first glimpse of the nature of the fighting on the Eastern Front. German soldiers are shot as they are surrendering. This might be the only time we see the Eastern Front in a series produced by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg, and they execute it well. The fighting on the Eastern Front was one without mercy, and the writers did not shy away from showing Soviet war crimes. After Rosenthal is rescued, he spends time behind the Soviet lines. At one point, he tours a concentration camp that the Red Army had liberated. He is clearly shaken by what he has seen. Later, before he is put on an aeroplane to begin his long circuitous route back to Thorpe Abbotts, he meets with a Jewish family. He starts to ask questions about what happened during the German occupation. As he begins to learn about the nature of the genocide conducted by the Germans, he is clearly shaken and changed by this experience. By the time he returns to Crosby at Thorpe Abbotts, he has no remorse for the German people suffering under the bombs after what he has seen.

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Nate Mann in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

Crosby himself is dealing with many changes in his life. During the latter months at Thorpe Abbotts, we can see that he is becoming more challenging to live with as the only original group member to remain with the 100th Bomb Group throughout the war. At one point, he physically assaults another officer for failing to have the equipment room ready for the combat crews as they are trying to get their parachutes for the upcoming raid. This is something that Crosby notes in his book, A Wing and a Prayer, on several occasions, which is partially why he was sent on leave to the United States. When Rosenthal returns, Crosby updates him on his life and the fact that he will become a father. Crosby doubts whether he will be a good father after everything he has gone through. He also hints at his doubts about the morality of some of the bombings that they are doing. Rosenthal lets Crosby know he will be a good father and tries to get him to put aside his doubts about the air war. This is another good discussion because it shows the divisions airmen felt over their attacks against Germany. It also shows how the war has changed Crosby and Rosenthal. Rosenthal gains confidence that they are doing the right thing in the air war after his experiences on the ground, but Crosby has doubts due to the destruction of German cities and significant losses of life.

Clevan and Egan are given short notice that they have only minutes to pack as they are about to leave Stalag Luft III with the Soviets driving towards the camp. This is the beginning of their march to a new camp, Stalag VII-A, located in Moosburg, Germany. On the march, we see the Americans witness the downfall of Nazi Germany within Germany itself. We still see the prisoners attacked and strafed by United States Army Air Force P-51 Mustangs, which misidentified them as a troop column. In another instance, we see the fanatical support for Hitler’s Germany in one of the guards participating in the march. At the same time, we see an armoured column of German soldiers pass the prisoners. Those in the armoured column clearly look beaten. In addition to the veterans who have seen too much combat in a war that they have clearly lost by this point, we also see the images of young boys and older men in the armoured formation. As the column gets closer to Moosburg, Clevan sees an opportunity for a number of other prisoners to attempt to escape. Realising that he will not make it, Egan obstructs the German guards pursuing Clevan and his comrades. This is where Egan really shines. Instead of trying to make a bolt for it, he helps his friend and comrades escape. Thus ensuring he would remain a prisoner for the remainder of the war. The story for Egan ends when he is liberated from Moosburg with the other prisoners by the US 14th Armored Division.

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Callum Turner and Austin Butler in Masters of the Air (Source: Apple TV+)

The episode ends with the ground personnel packing up Thorpe Abbotts and the 100th Bomb Group taking off to return home to the United States. While the aircrews fly back on their planes, the ground echelon returns to the United States via troop transport across the Atlantic. The series ends on a sombre note. During their final pre-flight check, Egan asks Clevan what he is thinking. Clevan responds by stating that he is thinking about the airmen they left behind. Due to the high attrition rate in the air war, many viewers struggled to connect with many of the new crews as the original members of the 100th Bomb Group were shot down. For men like Egan and Clevan, the losses of their comrades like Biddick and Bubbles, stuck with them long after the war. This brief moment tries to remind viewers of the high losses that the 100th Bomb Group and US Eighth Air Force suffered throughout the war.

Like previous episodes, this one has a couple of missed opportunities. First, seeing more of the US 332nd Fighter Group in this episode and the rest of the series would have been nice. Viewers never really saw the group conduct bomber escort missions, which it became known for throughout the air war. Additionally, there was an opportunity to cover Operation Thunderclap and the firebombing of Dresden from 13 to 15 February 1945. This would have provided better context for the viewers as Crosby and Rosenthal discuss the merits of the air war itself. Finally, I will state that the British spy plot that was dropped during the episode was the smart call to save airtime from tying off the other plot lines developed throughout the series. This decision did make me wonder why that story was even being told in the first place.

Overall, Masters of the Air has now become the best depiction of the American experience in the air war over Europe on screen. While this series has a lot of flaws, which I have noted throughout these reviews, it covers more ground than other depictions of the air war well. Also, it captures the nature of the fighting in ways that previous depictions could not be due to the technological limitations of their times. This series did a good job of paying homage to the experience of the American airman while also showing the brutality of air combat. Whereas previous depictions of air warfare chose to depict combat in the skies as more knightly duels or did not have the technological capabilities to fully capture the horrors of the air war, this series brought the struggles of the American airman front and centre. Scholars now have a series they can better use to talk about the air war with students and the public. I hope this series will inspire many young viewers to be the next generation of air power historians who usher in more scholarship on this subject at a time when it is most needed. While it is too early to tell, this series has renewed interest in the air war and the men who flew these planes into combat. If that is the only legacy of the television series, it has already contributed significantly to the field by renewing interest in the topic.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 at the University of North Texas with his dissertation, ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image:  Austin Butler in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

#Podcast – “There is a Holy Trinity of US Air Force History” – An Interview with Dr Brian Laslie

#Podcast – “There is a Holy Trinity of US Air Force History” – An Interview with Dr Brian Laslie

Editorial Note: Led by Editor Dr Mike Hankins, From Balloons to Drones, produces a monthly podcast that provides an outlet for the presentation and evaluation of air power scholarship, the exploration of historical topics and ideas, and provides a way to reach out to both new scholars and the general public. You can find our Soundcloud channel here. You can also find our podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

In our latest podcast, we put our co-host and editor, Dr Brian Laslie, in the hot seat to discuss his newest book, Fighting from Above: A Combat History of the US Air Force, from the University of Oklahoma Press. He discusses the earliest days of American air power up through the present and looks into the future.

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Dr Brian Laslie is a US Air Force Historian and Command Historian at the United States Air Force Academy. Formerly, he was the Deputy Command Historian at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). A 2001 graduate of The Citadel and a historian of air power studies, he received his Masters’ from Auburn University Montgomery in 2006 and his PhD from Kansas State University in 2013. He is the author of Air Power’s Lost Cause: The American Air Wars of Vietnam (2021),  Architect of Air Power: General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the US Air Force (2017) and The Air Force Way of War (2015). The latter book was selected for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s 2016 professional reading list and the 2017 RAF Chief of the Air Staff’s reading list. He can be found on Twitter at @BrianLaslie.

Header image: A North American P-51 Mustang of the United States Army Air Force over France, c. 1944. (Source: US National Archives and Records Administration)

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Eight

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Eight

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.  

With only one more episode left, Masters of the Air turned in another disappointing performance in episode eight. The poor pacing of episode seven and, to some degree, episode six has forced the show into a dilemma, namely, what to cover in the final episodes. The showrunners have now decided to cover the significant events of the summer, fall, and early winter of 1944 that shaped the lives of the US 100th Bomb Group, the 332nd Fighter Group, and the prisoners at Stalag Luft III in just 51 minutes. That is too much to ask of any television series. This episode failed largely due to poor pacing and trying to cover too many topics without going into depth on any of them. As a result, the show gave each storyline a token appearance, and, as such, it lacked the substance of the series’ first five episodes. Given this, one must wonder if this series had been written and filmed with the intent of being a much longer television series and how poorly these subjects were covered.

Episode eight covers three main storylines. For the 100th Bomb Group at Thorpe Abbotts, the focus is Major Harry Crosby’s mental and physical breakdown due to the stress of planning missions that force him to be sent on a four-week leave. The second major plot revolves around the prisoners at Stalag Luft III and their preparations to fight back, escape, or be marched to another camp. Finally, the series introduced a new storyline with only one episode remaining, namely that of the famous 332nd Fighter Group – a unit composed of African-American personnel and more commonly known as the ‘Tuskegee Airmen.’ Even though there are some good moments where the show portrays the real struggles of these men, by grazing the surface of each one of these topics, viewers and historians come away asking for more. Masters of the Air tried to do too much, and this episode and the rest of the series paid the price.

Much of the Crosby plot in this episode focuses on his work as a staff officer and his ultimate breakdown. The lead-up to Operation OVERLORD, the landing in Normandy and, ultimately, the liberation of France, has Crosby working for days without sleep. Crosby narrates himself trying to push through and continue planning missions as he feels the weight of each mission on his shoulders. He consumes coffee like water and even resorts to taking medication to keep himself awake. Eventually, he passes out in front of Lieutenant Colonel John ‘Jack’ Kidd from exhaustion. This ultimately leads the new commander of the 100th Bomb Group, Colonel Thomas Jeffrey, to order Crosby to take a four-week vacation to recharge his batteries. This shows the war’s effect on those serving behind the front lines and involved in planning the conduct of the Second World War. This is something that did not get enough coverage in Band of Brothers or The Pacific. With the notable exception of Kenneth More’s portrayal of Captain Jonathan Shepard in Sink the Bismarck in 1960, this is something not often captured well in war films. However, throughout the Second World War, staff officers played a vital role in the success of their units, and it was not uncommon for those leading from the rear to suffer significant health crises because they quite literally worked themselves to death. Notably, for example, Major General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the eldest son of the US President, died of a heart attack while serving as the Assistant Division Commander of the US 4th Infantry Division during the fighting in Normandy. Dealing with this issue was a nice addition to the series.

Masters of the Air introduced the story of the 332nd Fighter Group, more commonly known as the ‘Tuskegee Airmen,’ in this episode. There are a host of problems with this plot line. First, telling the story of this all-black fighter group is important, but giving the group only minutes of screen time in the second to last episode of the series does not do their story justice. Either increase the number of episodes to tell the story well or save that story for its separate mini-series. The last-minute addition of the 332nd Fighter Group also created additional problems with this plot. For example, we are never really introduced to the group itself and their previous struggles to get into combat. From training and through participation in the North African and Sicilian Campaigns, black fighter pilots faced an uphill struggle to prove their worth. Furthermore, the group became more widely known for their more conservative escort fighter tactics, leading them to snuggle tightly to the bomber formations. This hallmark of the 332nd Fighter Group contributed to their ability to reduce bomber losses while on escort duty and earned them a sterling reputation throughout the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). This moves us into the key individuals. Colonel Benjamin O. Davis Jr. is never really introduced. His story is critical here.

While the episode focuses on Lieutenants Alexander Jefferson and Richard Macon from the 332nd Fighter Group, they do not receive a proper introduction either. They are flung at us. Finally, the only mission we see is the 332nd providing close air support for Operation DRAGOON, the landings in southern France in August 1944. During this episode, Jefferson and Macon are shot down and then captured by the Germans. They go through the same interrogations that Egan also experienced in episode six. The key difference here is that the Germans used the state of racism in the United States to get Jefferson and Macon to turn on their country. While this fails, it is one of the few hints of these men’s challenges in fighting for their country. Instead of putting a face on racism, Masters of the Air decided to keep it faceless and very much in the background. Once again, this was another missed opportunity. In short, by dedicating so little time to this plot in previous episodes or by not expanding the episode count to tell this story well, we get additional problems. The 332nd Fighter Group’s story is glossed over, key individuals get a footnote, and finally, racism hardly appears in the episode.

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Adam Long, Matt Gavan, Callum Turner and Austin Butler in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

At Stalag Luft III, we see the Americans struggle with being cut off from the events of the world and the daily boring, melancholy life that takes over. It is a real struggle for Major John Egan, who wants to do something. Meanwhile, Major Gale Clevan tries to organise men to build a new water well. This leads to a fight between the two officers. Eventually, we see Jefferson and Macon arrive at the camp. When they arrived, some men regarded them as heroes, referring to them as the ‘Red Tails.’ Few American airmen knew of the 332nd Fighter Group besides their tail markings. Most did not know that they were an all-black fighter unit. So, this scene where they are greeted as heroes does not land well. Some American airmen did know about the 332nd Fighter Group, but they arrived later at the camp. Most of the airmen interred at Stalag Luft III were shocked to find that black fighter pilots were flying in the USAAF. This scene seems flung at the viewers without any context, especially considering that viewers never got to see the 332nd Fighter Group fly an escort mission in this episode. As the episode ends at Stalag Luft III, the airmen realise that they must work together to prepare for liberation, execution, a forced march to another camp, or escape. By the end of the episode, the different plot lines introduced in episodes six, seven, and eight finally start coming together to set up the series finale.

Overall, this episode fails because it tries to do too much. It tried to cover much of the fighting in 1944 in a single episode and juggled too many plots. In attempting to cover so many stories, we see the episode fail to introduce new characters, units, and stories well properly. Context is missing a lot of the time with each of these plots. Viewers are zipping from story to story like the fast-forward button has been hit on 1944 so we can get to the end of the war. This left a lot to be desired. One positive aspect of the episode was the analysis of Crosby’s physical and mental breakdown as a staff officer. However, one bright spot, in an episode that gave token coverage to a wide range of important historical events and topics, did not help this episode. Ultimately, the approach taken did not serve the series or the history well. One must wonder if this series was written with more episodes in mind and had been forced to make dramatic cuts at some point during the production process.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Josiah Cross in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Seven

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Seven

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.  

For the first time in the Masters of the Air television series, I was genuinely disappointed in an episode. There were two significant issues with this episode. The first major problem has now become a glaring problem for the show, which is the inability to tell a story outside the US 100th Bomb Group with the quality that it deserves. This is either because the show relies so heavily on veteran accounts that it cannot tell the larger story or because the show only half-heartedly covers the topic, like checking a box on an essay due at the end of class. The second major issue is that this episode wasted priceless minutes of television time covering stories and plots that, in the grand scheme of things, are not as important as other aspects of the air war. In many respects, this is likely a major reason why the show will do some more box-checking in the coming episodes. The series spends too much screen time on less critical plots and must condense more essential stories into the final two episodes.

For this review, I will not give an overview of the episode and jump straight into the problems because there is much to criticise. The first major issue that this episode, and the show more generally, struggle with is its treatment of those not members of the 100th Bomb Group. First, generals are written as blundering fools who do not care about their men. In the third episode, Colonel Curtis LeMay’s aggressiveness is blamed for the disaster of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg raid, even though he flew in the lead plane for the mission. Also, it left out the debates that US VIII Bomber Command struggled with in determining whether to send out the raid. This theme continued in this episode. While the episode did a good job of covering the aftermath of the 6 March 1944 Berlin raid well, during the planning and briefing of the 8 March raid, the writers decided to portray the commander of the US Eighth Air Force, Lieutenant General James Doolittle, and the commander of the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, as blundering fools who are using the same navigational route for back to back raids. As an audience member, it is hard to decide whether the showrunners want us to believe these men are unintelligent, lazy, or do not care. Most likely all the above. For perspective, the navigational route was chosen because it avoided flak concentrations and limited combat losses.[1]

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Kai Alexander and Bailey Brook in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

The show did not stop there. At the end of this episode, the new commander of the 100th Bomb Group, Lieutenant Colonel John Bennett, lays out the latest air strategy for gaining air superiority at the end of the episode to Captain Robert Rosenthal. He states that the new strategy going into March and April 1944 will be to win the air war by using the bombers as bait for the fighters so that the newly arrived long-range escort fighters, the North American P-51 Mustangs, can shoot down the German fighters. There are so many ways in which that scene does an injustice to the strategic, operational, and tactical changes Spaatz and Doolittle implemented at the beginning of 1944. Starting with the strategic picture. Spaatz rightfully argued that Operation OVERLORD could not go forward if the air superiority had not been gained before troops began landing in Normandy. This was a huge point of contention between Spaatz and the commander of the Allied Expeditionary Air Forces, Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory.[2] Spaatz went into 1944 to grind down the Luftwaffe through a large series of air battles carried out through the skilful concentration of all American air forces in the European and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations. Spaatz deserves much credit for bringing maximum pressure to bear on the Luftwaffe and degrading their combat effectiveness, starting with Big Week from 20 to 25 February 1944 and continuing through March and April 1944. Furthermore, the tactical changes implemented by the Eighth Air Force came from Doolittle. Doolittle changed the fighter tactics when he took over the Eighth Air Force from Lieutenant General Ira Eaker in January 1944. This came in two parts. First, American fighter pilots were no longer merely escorts as they were in 1943. Once engaged, American fighter pilots were to pursue German fighters even if it meant leaving the bomber stream. This was a more effective means to gain air superiority by prioritising shooting down German fighters. Additionally, Doolittle adopted the idea of using a bouncing fighter group, whose job was to roam the edges of the bomber formation in search of German fighters preparing to attack the bombers. These are well-known changes to scholars of the air war and can be easily told on screen to an audience. However, by stating that the generals wanted to use the bombers as bait, the show has given the impression to the audience that the American generals do not care about their losses and that this is simply a numbers game for the brass.

Another problem with this show is the anti-British bias that shows up. By this point, I wonder whether the showrunners think the British military can do anything well. While the criticisms of the British night bombing strategy in the second episode of the series were warranted, the scene did not convey the message well. I initially thought this was merely a poorly written-scene. At this point in the series, I think it is safe to say that whoever is writing the scenes regarding the British military holds them in contempt. It comes up again and again throughout the episodes. Sometimes in tiny doses. At other times, quite openly, as we saw in episodes two and six. In this episode, we get two more doses of British failures. While listening to the radio at Stalag Luft III, the Americans hear about the British failure to take Monte Casino in Italy. Later in the episode, there is the failure of the Great Escape, in which 76 British and Commonwealth prisoners escape the camp. Only three can evade captivity and get back home. Of the 73 that were captured, 50 were executed in retaliation. This is a significant moment for those living at Stalag Luft III and is a sign of British and Commonwealth prisoners continuing to wage war against the Germans using whatever means are at their disposal, including escape. Instead, it is portrayed as another British failure, and the consequences make life at the camp harder for the Americans of the 100th Bomb Group interred there. These are just two examples of the shortcomings of this show to tell the bigger picture. Where Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010) did a much better job providing context, Masters of the Air has fallen dreadfully short by putting so much emphasis on the perspective of the airmen. There is no sugarcoating it: this show is bad at telling stories outside the 100th Bomb Group.

These problems pale in comparison to the poor use of screen time in this episode. Much of this episode was dedicated to two plots that did not serve a significant purpose and took away screen time to lay the groundwork for more critical plots. First, much of the plot at Stalag Luft III centred on maintaining some news of the outside world using a handmade radio that the airmen kept hidden. While this did indeed happen, the radio plot took away time that could have be en better spent. While at Stalag Luft III, Major John Egan handled security, and Major Buck Clevan oversaw education at the South Compound.[3] Telling these stories provides more insight into camp life than focusing on losing and rebuilding a radio. Furthermore, the show ended teasing that the Tuskegee airmen would first appear in the eighth or nine episodes. It would have been nice to use some of the time in this episode to show the challenges black airmen faced in their fight to serve their country as fighter pilots and help orchestrate significant civil rights changes in the military through their service. Instead, like with the film Red Tails, Masters of the Air has chosen to skip the crucial challenges faced during training in the United States. This was a big missed opportunity. This is why this episode is so bad. The US 332nd Fighter Group’s story deserves more than a token appearance in the television series. Either tell the story well or save that story for a different television series. Simply throwing this story in without telling the back story does not do the history or airmen justice. For a better portrayal of black fighter pilots’ challenges, see the film The Tuskegee Airmen (1995).

This episode was a disappointment. This review cannot do a proper recap and review that covers every issue with this episode. Instead, I highlighted major flaws and trends in the episode and series. The treatment of other nationalities fighting against the Axis and the treatment of high-ranking officers do this series and subject a disservice. These are symptoms of long-growing problems with this show. This specific episode wasted valuable screen time on less essential plots like Captain Harry Crosby’s fictional infidelity and the time spent fixing a radio. By spending valuable minutes on these storylines, the show missed great opportunities to tell important narratives. This will have grave consequences as the show tries to introduce new storylines and wrap up the show in the final two episodes. Unfortunately, this is where the show is headed. Masters of the Air seems determined to give token coverage to serious issues while wasting valuable time on less important topics. This is an unfortunate development for a show I have come to enjoy.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Nate Mann in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

[1]  Donald Caldwell and Richard Muller, The Luftwaffe Over Germany: Defense of the Reich (Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2014), p. 168.

[2] Luke Truxal, Uniting Against the Reich: The American Air War in Europe, (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2023), p. 115-7.

[3] Donald Miller, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), p. 389.

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Six

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Six

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.  

Episode six of Masters of the Air was a transition episode. From now on, the television series will focus on the stories of three main characters and the stories around them. Additionally, the show is now trying to broaden its perspective from the US 100th Bomb Group to tell other stories related to the air war. Overall, this episode did a good job of setting up this new format, but whether the show will benefit from changing its approach to storytelling remains to be seen.

John Orloff’s thesis in episode six is about three men running from their fates. The show begins with Major John Egan trying to evade German police, military, and civilians. For the first time in the show, Egan faces the consequences of his actions as he encounters German civilians who either fear him or want to kill him in retaliation for the American air raids that are killing civilians as collateral damage in their bombing campaign or more directly trying to kill them to bring pressure on German morale as we saw in the last episode. There are several moments where it seems like Egan will escape his fate by evading his captors, but Egan is not so fortunate. He must face the brutal experience of being a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft III.

While Egan tried to escape capture, Lieutenant Robert Rosenthal attempted to run from the burden of leadership. During the episode, Rosenthal and his crew are sent to a ‘Flak Farm’ to recuperate after being the sole plane from the 100th Bomb Group to return from the 10 October 1943 Munster raid. Rosenthal spends much of the episode distancing himself from his crew. While Rosenthal makes it clear to those around him that he feels a deep sense of duty to continue flying and fighting the war, he is also reluctant to really engage with his men during this time off. Ultimately, Rosenthal comes to terms with the reality that he is not just a pilot fighting the war against Germany but also a crucial leader for his crew and the 100th Bomb Group. This is shown in Rosenthal’s final scene. He is standing at the door of his plane and gathering the inner strength to get inside one more time. This matters to his men, and the new crews witness someone who barely survived ‘Black Week’ going back into battle with a workman-like attitude.

Finally, Captain Harry Crosby spends the episode running away from his demon, survivor’s guilt. Crosby does not discuss losing his friend, Captain Joseph ‘Bubbles’ Payne. At the beginning of the episode, he is sent to attend a series of Oxford lectures designed to encourage greater cooperation amongst Allied personnel. During this episode, he meets Subaltern Alessandra Westgate. Her role in the war is never clear, but much speculation exists. Crosby spends much of the episode trying to bury his feelings about the loss of Payne by attending lectures and parties, but he finally unloads his guilt on Westgate. He questions why he survived, and Payne did not. Ultimately, Westgate reminds Crosby that this is not his fault. It is the fault of Germany for starting this war and bringing about the destruction that has affected so many lives as a result.

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Austin Butler in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

While a solid episode, some problems need to be discussed. First, the show has gone to great lengths to try and separate the Luftwaffe and the actions of the SS and Gestapo. This plays into the ‘clean Luftwaffe’ myth, which historians like Victoria Taylor are trying to debunk with their research. The head of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarshall Herman Goering, was one of the early members of the Nazi Party and participated in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. He was one of the most senior-ranking members of the Nazi Party at this point in the war. The Luftwaffe that he created embraced the ideals of the Nazi Party. The show fails to show that the Luftwaffe interrogation techniques were different because the Luftwaffe believed that they were more effective at acquiring information from American airmen. Also, this is the same Luftwaffe that executed 50 British prisoners during the Great Escape. Donald Miller wrote about why the Luftwaffe used a different interrogation approach in his book Masters of the Air.[1] This is another instance where the show might have benefited more by adding a little bit more context, but unfortunately, it failed here.

Overall, this episode showed three new aspects of the air war through the attempts by Egan, Rosenthal, and Crosby to evade their own personal battles in the air war. We see ‘Flak Houses’ covered in decent detail, the struggle of those who question why they were left behind, and finally, through Egan, we know the experience of those who try to escape but are captured. While there are problems that historians will have with this episode regarding the treatment of the Luftwaffe, this episode does highlight more aspects of the air war for audiences less educated on the experience of American airmen. Like with the first three episodes, the show struggles to put the experiences of American airmen into a broader context that audiences and scholars could really benefit from. This was another good but not great episode.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Callum Turner in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

[1] Donald Miller, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), pp. 386-7.

#Podcast – “I want to serve in the same way they did” – An Interview with Dr Sarah Myers

#Podcast – “I want to serve in the same way they did” – An Interview with Dr Sarah Myers

Editorial Note: Led by Editor Dr Mike Hankins, From Balloons to Drones, produces a monthly podcast that provides an outlet for the presentation and evaluation of air power scholarship, the exploration of historical topics and ideas, and provides a way to reach out to both new scholars and the general public. You can find our Soundcloud channel here. You can also find our podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

During the Second World War, it was not only men who flew military aeroplanes. Many women flew all kinds of aeroplanes in various roles in the United States, many of them members of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Their story did not end with the war either, as they fought for recognition as veterans throughout the 1960s and 70s. In our latest interview, From Balloons to Drones, Dr Sarah Myers joins us to discuss these women’s unique roles in the war and beyond and their legacy today.

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Dr Sarah Parry Myers is an Associate Professor of History at Messiah University in central Pennsylvania, where she teaches courses on 20th Century U.S. history, gender history, public history, and war and society. Myers is the author of Earning Their Wings: The WASPs of World War II and the Fight for Veteran Recognition (2023). She previously attended a National Endowment of the Humanities Summer Institute on Veterans Studies. She received a 2020-2022 National Endowment of the Humanities Dialogues on the Experience of War grant, ‘We are Veterans Too: Women’s Experiences in the U.S. Military.’

Header image: Four United States Women’s Airforce Service Pilots members receive final instructions as they chart a cross-country course on the flight line of a US airport. Assigned to the ferrying division of the United States Army Air Transport Command, the women pilots belong to the first class of American women to complete a rigorous nine-week transitional flight training course in handling B-26 Marauder medium bombers. They have been given special assignments with the US Army Air Forces as tow target pilots. (Source: US National Archives and Records Administration)

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Five

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Five

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.

At halfway through Masters of the Air, we finally reached the culmination point for the Americans during the 1943 air offensive, Black Week. There are a lot of essential storylines that the creators of Masters of the Air needed to nail with the exact right tone. For the first time in a televised depiction of the American air war against Germany, we get two new major themes the series tries to address. First, losing. Black Week, which lasted from 8 to 14 October 1943, was the final straw for the US Eighth Air Force. During the course of the week, American aircrew and bomber losses reached such a level that they could no longer maintain their air offensive. Films such as Twelve O’clock High (1949) and Memphis Belle (1990) depict the mounting casualties, but we never see the Americans lose at the end of the day. Even in Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), Americans perform quite well. The Market-Garden episode was the only episode amongst those previous works that depicted a setback, but it was only for a single episode. Masters of the Air has been building to this point since it began. Another major topic that the series addresses that usually gets overlooked on film is attacks on German civilians. Previous depictions of the air war typically avoid discussing the morality of the air war, but Masters of the Air takes it on. This episode breaks much ground in how the air war is depicted on film. For the first time, audiences are getting to see an American campaign end in a loss, and the United States shift towards attacks against civilians.

The episode begins with Major John Egan drinking in a B-17 Flying Fortress and struggling with losing his good friend, Major Gale Clevan. Egan has been hit hardest by the loss of his good friend. While the group is reeling, they do get some good news with the arrival of Captain Everett Blakely’s crew and navigator Second Lieutenant Harry Crosby. After everyone reconvenes at the bar, we soon learn that Crosby has been promoted to group navigator and Captain Joseph ‘Bubbles’ Payne has been demoted. Crosby is told to report to headquarters when the red light flashes to begin planning the next mission. On cue, the red light starts flashing, and viewers get a behind-the-curtain look at the chaos that occurs as the group plans for its next raid. It is not unheard of for those involved in planning to work nights and sleep during the day. Crosby mentions the stress of planning and briefing his fellow navigators. He feels the weight of the whole group on his shoulders and wonders if something he did wrong could lead to calamity.

During the briefing, the new mission and target are announced. It is Munster. The target is the marshalling yards in the city centre. During the briefing, it was also noted that the bombs would likely also hit German workers living next to the rail yards. The yards are next to the town cathedral, and the mission is flown on Sunday, 10 October 1943. This does not sit well with group members like the veteran Captain Charles Cruikshanks. He and Egan argue over the merits of attacking German civilians, including women and children. Egan argues that it will bring the war to an end earlier, but despite his words, this is really about revenge. As the conversation ends, Cruikshanks is still clearly unhappy with the tenor of the conversation and target selection. This great scene shows the divide among American airmen over the shift to area bombing during the war. American airmen knew attacking civilians through area bombing was both a war crime and morally wrong. Also, this was not how they were trained to prosecute their air offensive. Yet others, like Egan, thought it was a way to hasten the war’s end. It is a great scene that does not seek to justify area bombing but simultaneously exposes the divisions amongst the Americans over the switch in tactics. A lot of television series and movies would have punted on this topic. John Orloff, who wrote this episode, deserves much credit for tackling this subject and writing these scenes well.

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Nate Mann in Masters of the Air, episode five. (Source: AppleTV+)

As the bombers take off, we learn that the 100th Bomb Group can only muster 17 B-17s for this raid, many of which are loaned to them by other groups. As the groups formed, we quickly learned that the 100th Bomb Group was too far behind the rest of the 14th Bombardment Wing. Making matters worse, four B-17s had to turn back due to aircraft malfunctions, leaving the strike force with only 13 B-17s. They are too far back from the other groups and short on aircraft. Egan notes that they are a perfect target for the Luftwaffe. As the bombers approached the target, German fighters attacked in massive head-on passes. One can understand why viewers might think this scene is an embellishment of the actual air battle, but it was not. Approximately 200 German fighters attacked the 14th Bombardment Wing, singling out the 100th Bomb Group in the rear of the formation. In a matter of minutes, veterans that we had come to love are shot down. Egan and Brady bail out, Cruikshanks falls out of formation, and his crew bail out, and finally, we see the B-17 with Bubbles on it take a direct hit and collide with another B-17, killing him in the explosion. The perspective has switched to Rosenthal’s aircraft and crew by this point. The combat is so fast and intense that Rosenthal and the viewers experience the same shock when they realize his ship is the last in the formation, still in the air. The music is great here to create a sense of both eeriness and fear as the aircrew comes to grips with the fact that an entire bomb group has been blasted out of the sky for the first time in the air war. During the historical raid, German fighters eliminated the 100th Bomb Group during the first 10 minutes of a 45-minute air battle.[1] The show does a great job of showing how fast and sudden these losses are.

Back at Thorpe Abbotts, everyone waits for the return of the bombers. The first sign that something is wrong occurs when a bomber from the 390th Bomb Group arrives at the airfield. Colonel Neil “Chic” Harding calls the bomber to ask what happened to his bombers and soon finds out that they are all gone. As this occurs, Rosenthal’s plane returns, giving some hope that more might have made it back. That hope is soon dashed as Rosenthal’s crew relates the mission’s events in interrogation. The mood is sombre. The episode ends with Crosby packing up his good friend Bubbles’ foot locker to send home to his family. This is where Crosby finally breaks down and cries. For many of the airmen and ground personnel in the 100th Bomb Group they have reached the end of the line for this campaign physically and emotionally. This is how the 1943 campaign ended for many other groups. This is where we leave the 100th Bomb Group in the next episode. Episodes four and five are the best of the series by far. We have seen the morality of the air war brought into question, and the Americans lost the air war in 1943. Those who worked on this project went on a limb in the last two episodes by depicting sides of the air war that scholars are familiar with but rarely make their way to the big screen. They have created two great episodes that audiences can absorb, and scholars can use to teach about the air war.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Callum Turner in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

[1] Donald Caldwell and Richard Muller, The Luftwaffe Over Germany: Defense of the Reich (Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2014), pp. 132-4.

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Four

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Four

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.

The fourth episode of Masters of the Air was about those left behind. This is meant literally in the sense that we do not go up in the air with the planes after they take off, but we also see many of the characters on the show struggle with loss during the war. The result is that we get a good episode that portrays the struggles of airmen, ground crews, resistance fighters, and civilians left on the ground. This review will examine the episode’s analysis and responses to grief thematically rather than tackle the episode chronologically, as in past reviews.

The episode begins with a party after Lieutenant Glenn Dye’s crew completes their 25th mission. This will be the first and only crew of the original 100th Bomb Group to complete their tour of duty and go home. At the party, we are introduced to two new characters, Lieutenant Herbert Nash and Lieutenant Robert ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal. Both are green but capable and eager pilots. During the episode, Nash dances and flirts with Helen, who works for the Red Cross at Thorpe Abbotts. There are sparks between these two characters. At the same time, Rosenthal tries to understand better what he is flying into by talking to Major Gale Clevan. Nash is more successful in flirtations than Rosenthal in feeling out the veteran pilots about the nature of air combat. As the aircrews depart for their first mission the following day, Nash makes a last pass at Helen with a line that foreshadows his fate, “You might be the last pretty face that I ever see.” Nash’s fate is shown off-screen, and it falls on Rosenthal to deliver the shocking news to the young woman with whom he had developed a budding romance. In the same sequence, the news is broken to the group that Clevan and Crosby had gone down. The news that the group’s best pilot and navigator went down in separate planes stuns the group. Colonel Neil ‘Chick’ Harding and Lieutenant Joseph ‘Bubbles’ Payne express the shock that the group and audience feel when the news is broken. Two of the more critical anchors for the group have now been lost off-screen. The show does an excellent job of showing how the loss of these veteran aircrews impacts morale.

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Callum Turner and Joanna Kulig in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

Along with shock, we see sympathy and grief for those living under the bombs. During the episode, Egan walks about a series of bombed homes while on leave in London. He finally can see the results of what bombing does to civilians. As he watches the rescue crews work we hear the scream of a woman who lost what appears to be her daughter. While short, this was a hard scene to watch. Seeing the woman pull the dead child out of the rubble builds sympathy between the viewers and the bombed. It is a great scene to include. It is easy for the audience to get lost in the air-to-air combat, but these bombs have consequences. Even those who play no part in this war, such as children, suffer from the air war. It is a well-written and executed scene.

Another element of processing grief for those in combat is the sense of guilt that those who survived feel. This is an area where Masters of the Air has surpassed both Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), in my opinion. That is not to say that the previous series ever avoided the topic, and The Pacific did lean into the post-war struggles of Eugene Sledge with post-traumatic stress syndrome. However, we never saw it portrayed so personally, with Sergeant William Quinn’s decision to leave Sergeant William Hinton behind, trapped on the B-17 Flying Fortress before it exploded. Throughout his time on the run, Quinn grapples with his guilt over leaving his comrade behind. It eats at him throughout the whole episode more so than the fear of being captured by the Germans as his fellow airmen keep asking him about what happens. This plot ends with another crewman who survived the crash, Sergeant Charles Bailey, comforting Quinn. Bailey tells Quinn that he would have made the same decision as well. Some viewers will find it easy to judge Quinn for his actions in the previous episode, but as the show eloquently shows, many of us would have made the same decision in the same circumstances. To me, this was a powerful sequence of scenes paired with the scenes of Sledge at the end of The Pacific; we get a better sense of the survivor’s guilt and its aftermath.

The last element of grief that the episode deals with is anger. During the episode, Major John Egan goes on leave in London and meets a Polish woman with whom he sleeps. As they are in bed together, they watch German bombers strike London from a distance. Egan admits that this is the first time he has seen this side of the air war. As they continue talking, the Polish woman expresses her anger and desire for revenge against the Germans for the war that they unleashed. This scene sets up viewers perfectly for Egan in this episode and in episode five. After finishing his night with the woman, Egan sees the woman grieving the loss of her daughter. He then sees a newspaper highlighting the heavy losses that the Eighth Air Force suffered on the most recent raid. Egan calls Thorpe Abbotts to learn the fate of the 100th Bomb Group and, more importantly, his best friend Clevan. Egan ends the episode by lobbying to be on the next mission. In the teaser at the end of the episode, we see that Egan desires revenge against not only the Luftwaffe but all Germans for the loss of his friend.

This might go down as one of the series’ more important episodes. It broadened the audience’s perspective of the air war. It showed the ground crews, the bombed, and how they fought the air war in their way. Some struggled to process the shock of loss either in the air or on the ground. Others struggled with survivor’s guilt. Finally, we see many turn their grief into anger and desire for payback for the anguish that they feel for the loss of their loved ones. In an episode where grief took centre stage and, in many forms, this episode handled such a delicate topic as well as you can on screen. I think this is arguably the best episode of the series up to this point.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Edward Ashley and Austin Butler in Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Three

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episode Three

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will provide a critical review of each episode.

Three episodes in, we now better understand what the series Masters of the Air does well and where the show falls short. Let me begin this review by stating that I enjoy the series and what it deliers. Viewers gain a better perspective of the air war from the airmen who flew the missions than previous depictions. The show does justice to the US 100th Bomb Group and tells its story. This is still a good episode and series despite the criticism you will see at the end of this review. I will still recommend it to others. My problem is that the show fails to reach its full potential in telling this story. I think this is where the shows Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010) really soared and why, for me, Masters of the Air feels so close but still not on the same level.

This week’s episode was the fateful Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission on 17 August 1943. The raid was the second unmitigated disaster that the Americans suffered in the air war that month. On 1 August 1943, the US Ninth Air Force attacked the Romanian oil refineries at Ploiești with five B-24 groups, three of which were on loan from the US Eighth Air Force. While the raid succeeded in damaging the refineries, it failed to stop Romanian oil production at the cost of 54 Consolidated B-24 Liberators and 310 airmen.[1] While Ploiești does not appear in the episode, it is crucial to understand the context of the air war in 1943. These were some of the darkest days of the air war for the Americans. The episode begins with a briefing about the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission. Colonel Neil Harding, portrayed by James Murray, does a great job at explaining the nature of the mission, bad sports metaphors aside. The first strike force, which included the 100th Bomb Group, was to strike at German aircraft factories at Regensburg, thus drawing the bulk of the German fighter force onto their formation. He correctly explains that the bombers behind the 100th Bomb Group will move towards Schweinfurt and strike at German ball-bearing production with less resistance. The audience now has a great understanding of how the mission is supposed to work on paper.

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Elliot Warren as Lieutenant James Douglass, a bombardier with the US 100th Bomb Group who flies with Harry Crosby. (Source: Apple TV+)

The thesis of this entire episode was about the choices that soldiers make in war and how they impact the lives of those around them. It all begins with the poor weather delays that affected the execution of the raid. This led the US Eighth Air Force to send out Colonel Curtis LeMay’s Regensburg force five hours ahead of the rest of the force. During the raid, the creators of the show highlight several vital moments when decisions have to be made that affect the lives of the airmen in this episode. The first happens when Roy Claytor’s plane is shot down. As the crew bails out, the ball turret gunner, Sergeant William Hinton, becomes trapped and cannot escape. Sergeant William Quinn, the radio operator, hears his calls and tries to aid him as the rest of the crew bail out. Unfortunately, the plane enters a spin, and the force throws Quinn against the wall. He has to choose between his life and Hinton’s. He chooses his own. Later, we see that same choice posed to Quinn again when he speaks to a member of the Belgian resistance and has to decide if he wants to try to escape or spend the remainder of the war in a prison camp. His choice has not yet been revealed, and the scene ends on a cliffhanger. Lieutenant Curtis Biddick is the second character to face a life-or-death decision. His plane is hit during the raid, and his co-pilot, Lieutenant Richard Snyder, is severely wounded. In an emotionally impactful scene, Biddick decides to try and crash land the plane to save Snyder. The rest of the crew bail out successfully, and for a moment, it appears Biddick has once again pulled off the impossible. Unfortunately, he can’t maintain control of his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as it crashes into the ground in a massive explosion. The final major choice we see throughout the raid is Major Gale Clevan’s choice not to bail out and keep pushing his aircraft through the raid. His choice to keep pushing on paid off, with his plane landing just short of the runway at Telergma in the French colony of Algeria. Throughout the entire episode, there are several moments where the show makes it very clear that Clevan’s decision to press on could have had catastrophic consequences for him and his crew. The show did an excellent job at showing the choices that the young airmen of the 100th Bomb Group, many in their late teens and early twenties, had to make in split seconds and their consequences.

For an episode that emphasized the importance of the decisions made in war, the biggest one was left out. On the morning of 17 August 1943, the head of the US VIII Bomber Command, Brigadier General Frederick Anderson, had to decide whether or not to scrap the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission. Anderson, like the commander of the Eighth Air Force, Major General Ira Eaker, was under immense pressure to execute this mission. General Henry Arnold, the US Army Air Forces commander, had taken a great personal interest in the raid and its success. The raid had been put off before due to poor weather. Additionally, the Regensburg force had to leave with enough time to have light remaining to land when they reached Algeria. Anderson ultimately made the call to send LeMay’s force first through the fog while waiting for the rest of the fog to dissipate before sending the rest of the bombers. This is how the two forces end up five hours apart. [2] This brings me to my biggest criticism of the show. Three episodes in, the show struggles to discuss the air war’s wider context. In the second episode, the writers poorly executed a scene to introduce the doctrine debates between the Americans. In this episode, the decision to not fly the mission as planned does not appear on the screen, which was the raid’s most important decision. This was a big missed opportunity for the creators of Masters of the Air. Anderson had to live with the fact that his decision on 17 August 1943 cost the Eighth Air Force sixty B-17s and 559 airmen either killed or missing.[3]

When it comes to telling the story of the 100th Bomb Group and its experience during the raid, this episode did an excellent job. It showed the life-or-death decisions these young men had to make in seconds, and if they were lucky, they would have to live with the consequences of those decisions. Yet, the quality of the television show could be much improved by occasionally widening its perspective. The series has become so zoomed in on the 100th Bomb Group that it struggles to tell the bigger picture of the air war. Adding a short scene here or there to add that big-picture perspective would bring everything together and make this television series genuinely extraordinary. My criticisms aside, this is still the best series on the air war I have seen, and it deserves to be in the same conversation as the 1949 film Twelve O’clock High.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Edward Ashley, Matt Gavan, Callum Turner and Anthony Boyle in Masters of the Air (Source: Apple TV+)

[1] Jay A. Stout, Fortress Ploesti: The Campaign to Destroy Hitler’s Oil (Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2011), p. 76.

[2] Luke Truxal, Uniting against the Reich: The American Air War in Europe (Lexington, KT: University Press of Kentucky, 2023), pp. 71-3.

[3] Truxal, Uniting Against the Reich, pp. 76-7.

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episodes One and Two

#FilmReview – Masters of the Air, Episodes One and Two

By Dr Luke Truxal

Editorial note: On 26 January 2024, Apple TV+ launched the much-anticipated series Masters of the Air. This series follows the actions of the US 100th Bomb Group during the Combined Bomber Offensive in the Second World War. As the series is being aired, our Book Reviews Editor, Dr Luke Truxal, the author of Uniting against the Reich (2023), will critically review each episode.

The first two episodes of the Apple TV+ television series Masters of the Air are a great introduction to the air war for those less familiar with the subject. Yet, they also treat the subject with the seriousness that scholars of the air war demand from media portrayals. Stylistically, the episodes blend the storytelling style of the famous documentary Target for Today (1944) with the drama of the more famous film Twelve O’clock High (1949). Other films on air power, such as Top Gun (1986), tend to romanticize or glorify air-to-air combat. The episodes do not do that. Instead, viewers better understand the nature of combat in the skies above Europe. This one-two-punch season opener stands strong on its own. This was a very promising start for Masters of the Air.

These were two great episodes for those unfamiliar with the air war in Europe. The first episode centres around the US 100th Bomb Group, which became famous for the high losses that it suffered during the summer and fall of 1943. For those who wish to spoil themselves, read the book the series is based on, Don Miller’s eponymous Masters of the Air, or Harry Crosby’s memoirs A Wing and a Prayer. John Orloff, who created the series, uses the 100th Bomb Group as a vessel to tell the larger story of the American experience in the air war. The opening scenes show young pilots and their aircrews eager to enter combat. By the end of the first episode, they return, having experienced the true horrors of fighting high above the skies in subzero temperatures.

Their first mission to Bremen begins as an introduction to what a typical mission is like for the aircrews. Gale Cleven and the rest of the aircrews are woken up in the pre-dawn hours for all the work that takes place before a mission. As the time gets closer to the start of the mission, viewers can feel the tension building slowly until the aircraft take off. During the mission, viewers get a taste of the dangers aircrews faced, such as forming up in cloud cover, flak, and German fighters. The combat scenes in this episode are fast-paced and intense. Fighters whiz by the formation in the blink of an eye, and gunners struggle to keep up with the speed of combat. Keep in mind that German pilots approached from the front to limit the ability of the bomber formation to concentrate its guns on the fighters. Doing so significantly increased the closing speed between the fighters and the bombers. Masters of the Air is not the Memphis Belle, where combat is long and prolonged. It is quick, brutal, and deadly. This episode is a great educational tool for what a typical mission could look like.

I thought the second episode did a great job of highlighting the personal relationships between the ground crews and the British civilians living near the base at Thorpe Abbotts. We see the close bonds the children near the airfield had with the ground crew. At one point, a group of children helped the ground crew clean up oil on the runway after the planes took off. For many children, these bonds lasted a lifetime. This provides viewers insight into the American and British cultural interactions during the war.

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Raff Law and Samuel Jordan in the second episode of Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)

No depiction of the air war on film is perfect. There are some areas where the second episode struggled, but these are few and far between. Judging by online reactions, the most controversial scene involved the doctrinal debate between American and British airmen in the pub. I believe this scene did a good job of educating the public about the doctrinal differences between the two sides without having to dive into the high-level strategy meetings that occurred on this topic. The episode also demonstrates that the two allies are quite passionate about their beliefs on how best to prosecute the air war. However, the second episode failed to grasp the attitude with which the British expressed their concerns over daylight precision bombing. The British had tried and failed to carry out their own precision bombing campaign at the beginning of the war. Their experience led them to adopt night area bombing. As the more experienced partner in the alliance, the British were concerned that the Americans might be unable to maintain the attrition rate that a daylight campaign demanded. The Americans were, however, more than willing to sustain a much higher attrition rate to execute daylight precision bombing. Instead, the writers wrote a scene that wreaked of animosity between the two groups of airmen. Had the writers changed the tone of the scene, then they might not be facing the blowback that they are today. It was one scene, but even today, the emotions of the air war still run high.

Overall, the first two episodes of Masters of the Air started the series well and educated viewers about the ugly nature of the American strategic bombing campaign from the perspective of the airmen. This episode gave the audiences the basics of what to expect from typical American raids. As a result, they set the stage for the raids that would begin to stand out more in 1943, such as the upcoming 17 August 1943 Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, a disaster for the Eighth Air Force. Masters of the Air has done an excellent job setting up the rest of the series. Now, viewers will see whether the series can maintain its form going into the darker days of the air war in the following episodes.

Dr Luke Truxal is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. He completed his PhD in 2018 from the University of North Texas with his dissertation ‘Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany.’ His previous publications include ‘Bombing the Romanian Rail Network’ in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. He also wrote ‘The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943’ in the Journal of Military Aviation History. In addition, Truxal is researching the effectiveness of joint air operations between the Allied air forces in the Second World War. He can be reached on Twitter at @Luke_Truxal.

Header image: Austin Butler as Major Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven in episode one of Masters of the Air. (Source: Apple TV+)