The ‘Masters of the Air,’ lesser known as ‘The American Eighth Air Force;’ were a unit of American bomber pilots that served and fought in World War ll against Nazi Germany, from 1942 to 1945. The incredible story, originally shared by biographer Don Miller titled “Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany,” is now being brought to screens everywhere by way of a mini-series on Apple TV. The series was made possible by the legendary war series duo Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who worked on two previous limited series Band of Brothers and The Pacific. “Masters of the Air” has become an unintentional third part of this air-to-TV trilogy.
Austin Butler and Callum Turner are the leading men in the new installment, and arguably two of the biggest stars of the silver screen right now. Butler plays Maj. Gale “Buck” Cleven, one of the group’s original members was given command of the 350th Bomb Squadron in July 1942. Turner plays alongside Butler as Maj. John “Bucky” Egan, an original member of the 100th. He initially served as its Operations Officer and in 1943, took over command of the 418th Bomb Squadron, leading his B-17s on a dozen missions.
The duo became like brothers on screen, the banter and playfulness on the ground allow for their true devotion and care for one another when they brave the skies for the unknown ahead. They are joined by many other talented stars on screen that make up the rest of the 100th bomb group, like Barry Keoghan and Anthony Boyle. The team of actors and the team behind the cameras came together to provide the most authentic point of view possible. Colleen Atwood all shared a behind-the-scenes look of the show, from building B-17s from scratch to hoisting the cockpit in a gimbal, providing a believable illusion of really flying these missions. She describes the detailing and costumes done by acclaimed costume designers.
Atwood shared that going through the pre-production process allowed for some hurdles. “The A4 [flight jackets], which are the simple leather jackets, are out there in reproduction land and they’re still popular, but the big jackets with the shearling inside — which was the symbol of the 100th — weren’t out there.” Atwood worked with the U.K.-based clothing company Eastman Leather, which specializes in reproducing authentic WWII flight jackets and accessories. The attention to detail down to the costuming, was essential to accurately bringing this true story to life, and with honor. Atwood also made slight modifications to the original designs “…one example is a WWII original flight jacket she sourced from the Midwest, which had a collar she liked better than the ones she saw in the photos of the 100th Bomb Group pilots.” Overall, Atwood stated her team recreated roughly 250 leather jackets and manufactured 400 to 500 uniforms, shared by WWD.
The accuracy in the costuming is essential to providing accuracy toward the depiction of these events in a historically accurate, but also entertaining way for the viewers. Author of the original biography Don Miller shared with TIME, “There could not have been a D-Day landing had the German Luftwaffe controlled the skies,” Miller says. To put into perspective the sheer weight of the soldiers portraying the true history, “We lost over 18,000 airmen in these tremendous skyfights.” It was also shared by Waxman, writer for the time that The Eighth Air Force accounted for roughly half of all U.S. Army Air Force casualties, and their 26,000 fatality count trumps the total number of Marine fatalities of 24,511.
The true sacrifice made in real life makes this series an ode to the brave individuals who fought to keep their country free. The deep connections and the brotherhood shared in this show by the actors and crew alike with every attention to detail from the costuming to the flight scenes, truly allow the audience to feel beyond the show and witness a depiction of the harsh, and sacrificial truths in a never-before-seen way. You can watch “Masters of the Air” every Friday on Apple TV+.
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