Masters of the Air

[Glamdring]

Anybody else watching this show? Episode 3 was about the first Regensburg raid, which was rather interesting.

Even though WW2 bombers fascinate me, three episodes in, and I am not terribly impressed. They just have to condense the preflight planning, the bombing mission, after action, and other daily life stories into an hour, and it just doesn't feel like it is working. The CGI is very impressive for the bombing missions though, but there are only so many ways to see a B17 take off, shoot down "Zie Germans" fighters, get shot up themselves, blow up, and return to the ground in a controlled or uncontrolled manner.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by the terrific cast and production style of Band of Brothers, because nothing can ever hold a candle to that miniseries to me. Each episode was a concise picture of an event and was a perfect mix of historical drama, action, entertainment, and then seeded with the interviews with the actual Easy Company soldiers puts it over the top. And that is a reason why I have rewatched it once or twice a year. I feel no such connection with Masters so far, but The Pacific took a couple rewatches to grow on me, so who knows.

[keavdog]

I've been watching and agree, I don't feel hooked but I like it. The CGI is very cool and man those fighters come in so fast it's a wonder they shot any of them down. I saw on another site someone had a question - how much friendly fire between air crews happened during those missions?

[Glamdring]

I was thinking the same thing, since the whole strategy is to for a box with overlapping defensive fire...how much of that overlap can send a stream of .50 bullets into the fortress next door, above, or below.

[Stikpusher]

I’m watching it and enjoying what has been aired so far. I’m curious to see how the future episodes will go, as there is a still a LOT of war left to go. The way that the Scweinfurt-Regensberg mission was portrayed was pretty well done. If any of you have seen the movie Twelve O’Clock High, that same mission is the one portrayed from the point of view of the 306th Bomb Group. It’s the last one that Gregory Peck’s character flies.

[Stuart]

I don't think I'll watch it, mainly as I don't do pay for view TV. I do know the program has received a fair bit of stick over here for its (no offence to anyone here) portrayal of 'How the US finally took the war to Hitler's doorstep!' and completely overlooks the fact that RAF had been doing just that for 3 years before the Eighth and Ninth turned up in the UK.

But then as U-571 showed, never let actual facts get in the way of a good movie.

[BlackSheep214]

I want to watch it badly but I missed out on Apple+ 3 months free last week.

I hope it come out on DVD though. It better!

[Stikpusher]

I don't think I'll watch it, mainly as I don't do pay for view TV. I do know the program has received a fair bit of stick over here for its (no offence to anyone here) portrayal of 'How the US finally took the war to Hitler's doorstep!' and completely overlooks the fact that RAF had been doing just that for 3 years before the Eighth and Ninth turned up in the UK.

But then as U-571 showed, never let actual facts get in the way of a good movie.

Actually the RAF are not completely overlooked, and they are mentioned and shown a bit, in episodes 1 & 2. Specifically the night vs day bombing and associated casualties. But like Band of Brothers, the show is currently focused on one unit and their particular part in the war. It's not so much a case of How finally the US took the war to Germany, and more a case of how the US did it differently from the Brits.

I want to watch it badly but I missed out on Apple+ 3 months free last week.

I hope it come out on DVD though. It better!

I'm sure that it will eventually be released on disc. I'm sure that I'll buy it when that happens.... I still need to buy Greyhound sometime too...

[BlackSheep214]

But hey... I have the book though.

[Stuart]

I don't think I'll watch it, mainly as I don't do pay for view TV. I do know the program has received a fair bit of stick over here for its (no offence to anyone here) portrayal of 'How the US finally took the war to Hitler's doorstep!' and completely overlooks the fact that RAF had been doing just that for 3 years before the Eighth and Ninth turned up in the UK.

But then as U-571 showed, never let actual facts get in the way of a good movie.

Actually the RAF are not completely overlooked, and they are mentioned and shown a bit, in episodes 1 & 2. Specifically the night vs day bombing and associated casualties. But like Band of Brothers, the show is currently focused on one unit and their particular part in the war. It's not so much a case of How finally the US took the war to Germany, and more a case of how the US did it differently from the Brits.

That's interesting, I'd not read that. Obviously I've not seen it so I can't really comment, other than I know it got some stick. As I said, I don't do pay for view TV so I'm unlikely to see it - but then I've not seen Band of Brothers either (I really should).

[Stikpusher]

But hey... I have the book though.

Isn’t the book about the whole 8th Air Force? Not strictly about the 100th Bomb Group?