How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

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How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by Moggy »

Image

Steven Spielberg’s follow-up to Band of Brothers on Apple TV+ tells the story of the Americans who flew bombers from England to Germany in the Second World War and suffered huge losses. The reality was even more horrific, says Max Hastings

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how- ... -zp3vlsqkf
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by rotton50 »

If this were being put out by Netflix the crew would be 3/4 black with a transexual plane captain so kudos to Apple for presenting things as they were.

Can't wait to watch.
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by Moggy »

Masters of the Air review: It’s hard to resist the pulse-quickening action of this epic Second World War tale

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks round out their trilogy, this time taking the fight to the skies

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 83981.html
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

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‘They fought flak, frostbite – and the Nazis’: Spielberg, Hanks and the heroes of Masters of the Air

Completing the trilogy that began with Band of Brothers and The Pacific, this epic mega-budget TV series tells the brutal, thrilling story of the US bombing raids that left from East Anglia. We meet its stars

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... bing-raids
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

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Masters of the Air, review: astonishing wartime epic will take your breath away

Somehow, Spielberg and Hanks have surpassed the thrills of Band of Brothers, with a superstar cast including Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/01/ ... spielberg/
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by Moggy »

‘Masters of the Air': Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan's WWII Misfire
Story by Alan Sepinwall

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/m ... r-BB1hc4ih
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by rotton50 »

Ok, so there I am watching the trailer and lo and behold up pops a section on the Tuskegee airmen.

I'm hoping it's just a "fly by" reference thrown in to satisfy the Wokesters among us because they never flew escort for the Bloody 100th. They were stationed in various locations in Italy, mostly targeting southern France, Romania, Hungary and southern Germany.

Their war record was superlative so why sully it by stretching history to include them in this story?

We shall see.
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by Moggy »

That means I can include them in my Italian setup :)

They were going to work them in somewhere.

I'm trying to work out how to view this. I already have Netflix, Anazon, Disney+, and Paramount+, so I dont want to take on another streaming service.
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by rotton50 »

My strategy is to suspend (or cancel) a couple of the pay services, watch a couple more for 3-4 months and when I've wrung them dry of quality shows, suspend those accounts and reopen the previously suspended ones. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Side tip.

I had a massive hack of my Amazon account a couple of years ago and they were not helpful in resolving the issue so I canceled the account and now share my daugher's account, paying the difference between a single user household vs a family plan, but I only use it for videos, I refuse to buy anything on Amazon.

Instead I opened a similar account with Walmart for $40 less per year and it includes a free Paramount video account. I don't know if Walmart is a viable option in Britain though.
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by rotton50 »

Moggy wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 5:04 pm That means I can include them in my Italian setup :)
Turns out Nico did a hi-res "Red Tail" model. I'll have to do a bit of updating to the 1.6 standard but nothing too difficult and then you'll have it for your Italian campaign.
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by Moggy »

:yes:
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

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Masters of the Air: the catastrophic true story of the Bloody Hundredth bomb group in the Second World War

On their first mission alone, they lost three planes and 30 men. Sky-high casualties earned them their grim nickname early on, and now their incredible story is being put on screen in an epic war drama on Apple TV+. Annabel Nugent reads up on the young men in the cockpit

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 83939.html
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by Moggy »

‘There were no foxholes in the sky’: the astounding adventures of the real Masters of the Air

Apple TV‘s series tells the story of the US Air Force‘s ‘Bloody Hundredth’ Bomber Group. But how does it compare to the truth?


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/01/ ... e-history/
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

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Masters of the Air: The story behind the Apple TV drama

The story of a group of American World War Two airmen is about to be told in a television drama series featuring Hollywood star Austin Butler. But in a corner of the East Anglian countryside, where the group's B-17s began bombing raids on Nazi Germany, the men of "Bloody Hundredth" have long been celebrated.

Villagers in Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk, realised more than 40 years ago that the young Americans who arrived on their doorsteps in June 1943 should not be forgotten.

Volunteers set up the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum in 1983.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-68093138
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Re: How accurate is Spielberg’s "Masters of the Air"?

Post by rotton50 »

Why I love the internet -

https://premierrelics.com/8th-air-force ... b-raid-map

"Over the course of 22 months of aerial combat, the aircrews of the 100th had served a deadly apprenticeship as they honed their skills and tactics. In an unemotional analysis of the raw numbers, the Bloody 100th’s wartime losses were not the worst suffered by the Eighth Air Force, though they were in the top three of losses by heavy bomber groups. The official history from the 100th Bomb Group Foundation cites 184 missing aircrew reports on 306 missions. In his memoir An Eighth Air Force Combat Diary, 100th copilot John Clark pointed out that “50% of the Group’s losses occurred in only 3% of its missions.” Like a gambler whose luck has gone cold, when the crews of the 100th had a bad day, they had a very bad day."

OTOH -
"By the end of its war-time operations the 100th BG had flown nearly 9,000 sorties, in over 300 missions, dropping over 19,000 tons of bombs. They would be credited with the destruction of 261 enemy aircraft, with another 240 damaged or probable. They earned two DUCs and the French Croix de Guerre with palm. Far from being the worst in the 8th Air Force, the 100th’s reputation for accuracy, and overall low operational loses made it one of the most outstanding Bomb Groups of the Air Force."

As for the show, the first two episodes were "meh". Nothing like "Band Of Brothers", more like the "The Pacific", though technically spot on, you never make an emotional connection with the characters.

Honestly, it's shaping up to be a show for the masses, not WWII air combat wonks, which of course makes sense from a commercial standpoint.................but "Band of Brothers" managed to do both.
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