Versus
Masters of the Air
I have not watched the latter.
Posted on 03/24/2024 5:51:48 AM PDT by Rummyfan
According to Apple, the premiere episode of Masters of the Air, the "sequel" to Band of Brothers and The Pacific, was the most-watched debut ever on their streaming platform. Which is proof that there's a robust audience for these technically cutting-edge but dramatically old-fashioned World War Two dramas, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin and Tom Hanks' Playtone.
It's hard not to see the appeal in a world full of moral equivalence and antiheroes so compromised they'd be called villains in a different era. None of these shows deny that war is hell; they go out of their way (with the assistance of top dollar digital and practical effects) to immerse us in the horror and violence but remain steadfast that this awful war was worth the cost, given the brutality of our enemies.
In the lead-up to Masters of the Air, there were reasonable concerns that the "evolution" of Hollywood in the fourteen years since HBO aired The Pacific would inject a good deal of retrospective handwringing into the story of the Eighth Air Force and its bombing campaign over Europe, but the new show was remarkably free of it – defiant, even, that despite the terrible toll in civilian casualties, it was justified by defeating Nazi Germany.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Versus
Masters of the Air
I have not watched the latter.
It’s a small point, but they came under criticism for not having the chin turret on the B17s; the B-17G had been standard by the timeline of the bombing campaign, but the show reflected the older versions of the FF.
I recommend “For All Mankind” also on Apple TV. Totally bingeworthy!!
“There were too many stories so they couldn’t really tell them in any depth or good detail. Too many characters so when a crew was shot down I wasn’t sure who it was. ”
My ex father-in-law was a mechanic in the eighth Air Force. That pretty much sums up the way he described things. So he got to where he didn’t even want to know their names. Just a steady stream of guys coming through and being there a few missions, and vanishing.
I watched the opening episode of “Masters of the Air”. I was not impressed or enthused.
I’ll take “Twelve O’Clock High” any day.
Hollyweird can eat my shorts.
Everyone seems to forget the Ninth Army Air Force which bombed Ploesti, North Africa, Italy. Ploesti was even worse on crew in real life than anything shown in Masters or 12. As my bombardier stepdad witnessed, it was devastating.
Then there was Catch 22 which seems to be disregarded as some sort of military comedy.
“For All Mankind”, aka Liberal Democrats in Space.
Always remember the number of airmen killed in WWII: 80,000
I noticed that, too. Not a one of them even in the scenes for the last year of the war. That added enhancement was put in to address head-on attacks by German fighters that were very successful because of the few guns that could be trained on 12 o’clock level.....otherwise the recreations and imagery were commendable.
The most-produced bomber of WWII was the B-24 Liberator which as used in the areas you mentioned.
Bigger bomb load, too.
“So he got to where he didn’t even want to know their names.”
My Dad flew fighters - P47s and then P-51s. When I was a kid, there was a movie where the character got all emotional about someone who hadn’t come back. My Dad muttered, “Get used to it”.
He almost never said anything about combat, but after the movie he said you flew missions and sometimes the beds next to you were empty that night. And then a few days later, a stranger would be in those beds. “It was just that way. You had to get used to it.”
One of the few other times he commented - when I asked about it just before he left for Vietnam - his entire part of the conversation ran, “You’re always tired but you have a job to do and you do it.” Then he left the room.
A year later, he was killed in a crash in Vietnam. His third war. Fighters in WW2. Light bombers in Korea. Helicopters in Vietnam.
I later ended up flying combat sorties and was shot at a number of times, but it was NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, like what he went through. Not even 1/2 of 1%.
I haven't seen the series myself, only a few brief clips; I am inclined to watch it nonetheless despite this.
The omission was picked up before the show was broadcast but apparently too late to address. One of the problems they had for this that they didn't have for the movie Memphis Belle was that there were no surviving crewmen who could advise them; this would have been pointed out immediately.
There was also a scene where one of the planes was taxiing after landing and tells the tower that there are wounded on board. This is BS; wounded were indicated by a red flare from the B17 before it touched down, which gave the ambulances enough time to get to the plane when it stopped. There was very strict radio silence regarding dead and wounded, as the Allies were concerned about spies eavesdropping on radio conversations.
I think the chin turret helped more than it hurt, but my understanding is that the German fighters still had a disproportionate advantage with the frontal attack despite the guns up front.
Agree.
They definitely helped. The whole idea of B-17 daylight bombing with precision Norden bombsights was accurate on-target damage. This, coupled with protection provided by the porcupine quill formation defense regime of ships guns pointing everywhere was costly, but eventually effective enough. It was possible for adjacent aircraft to shoot down fighters that were attacking other bombers, for instance.,
I have an old book called “Air War Against Hitler’s Germany” which is a fantastic remnant of WWII in an American Heritage Junior Library Harper Crest series. Written by Stephen Sears. Had to buy it on Amazon used....
and?
I noticed 12 aclock high is on YouTube anytime
God bless you for being your father’s wingman.
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