Masters Of The Air (Apple TV+)

[dimsum]

Here’s the opening title sequence, for convenient injection directly into your veins.

Very Band of Brothers feel.

I’m super excited for the show but the opening credits seems like a lot.

The Pacific’s credits were understated, which I really loved.

Still, can’t wait until it starts.

 

[brihard]

I’m super excited for the show but the opening credits seems like a lot.

The Pacific’s credits were understated, which I really loved.

Still, can’t wait until it starts.

I tingled at the little clip of them flying over the beaches.

 

[RangerRay]

I’m guessing that there won’t be many Lancasters or Spitfires in this show.

I’m still counting down the days to watch it though.

 

[dimsum]

I’m guessing that there won’t be many Lancasters or Spitfires in this show.

I’m still counting down the days to watch it though.

On Reddit, someone posted behind-the-scenes shots with RAF (and an RCAF) aircrew. So, I think there will be mention of RAF Bomber Command.

The book goes into fair detail about what the RAF was doing, and would have to mention them to explain why the USAAF was doing daylight bombing.

One pic here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/uniformporn/s/VKeV3vJWmT

 

[Halifax Tar]

I wish Canada would do quality material about our exploits like this.

 

[brihard]

I wish Canada would do quality material about our exploits like this.

You act like Hyena Road doesn’t even exist!

 

[dimsum]

I wish Canada would do quality material about our exploits like this.

Sure, if Ryan Reynolds and Denis Villeneuve got together on a project.

Problem is that unless it’s produced by the CBC or another Canadian agency, it’s not going to get traction bc our market is too small. Maybe Netflix would get in on it (they seem to greenlight anything) but a major reason why this is so polished is that Tom Hanks’ company is doing this.

And some people seem to want to defund the CBC anyways.

 

[mariomike]

Anyone interested in something more than a TV show might consider reading The Bomber Command War Diaries.

Every single operation which Bomber Command mounted during the Second World War is listed, to produce "an operational reference book " of use and interest to all students of the air war.

 

[dimsum]

You act like Hyena Road doesn’t even exist!

…and how about that glorious Passchendaele movie, amirite?

But to pull back to MotA, my fear for this series would be that there seems to be 3 different plot lines from the opening sequence alone. There was some complaint bc The Pacific had 3 storylines (3 Different books) and some folks couldn’t keep track of who knew each other, etc.

Some spoilers below from the book:

1. The bomber crew(s) - some of them get shot down and go to Stalag Luft whatevers
2. The (white) fighter pilots
3. The (black) fighter pilots - Red Tails

AFAIK they didn’t add anything to the book from the opening sequence - the book talks about various fighter sqns who worked to protect the bombers (or not) during the various phases of the war. The Red Tails didn’t have a big portion in the book but I‘d guess that one episode would be dedicated to them.

What I didn’t see in the opening sequence (which makes sense) is that the book delves pretty deeply into the German civilian experience of the bombing campaigns. It’ll be interesting to see if/how that gets brought up. It’s pretty gruesome and a bit of “are we the baddies” moment.

 

[mariomike]

What I didn’t see in the opening sequence (which makes sense) is that the book delves pretty deeply into the German civilian experience of the bombing campaigns.

Read this about the briefing of an RCAF squadron,

As far as Dresden goes, that was the first time the Station Commander came and gave us a political reason for the raid. It only happened just prior to take-off at the briefing for the Dresden raid.

He explained that the Nazis had convinced the German people that at the end of WW1 their armed forces had remained still on foreign soil and basically undefeated, and that they, the German forces of WW1, had been betrayed by politicians at home. "He then pointed to the cord running across the map to the city of Dresden, and said, 'There are going to be a lot of people in Dresden tonight who are going to find out that war can be a very nasty thing. Never again will any future German government be able to say that the country was fairly well intact but still defeated.' "

"Incidentally, it will show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do."

Battlefields in the Air: Canadians in Bomber Command page 152.

 

[lenaitch]

Sure, if Ryan Reynolds and Denis Villeneuve got together on a project.

Problem is that unless it’s produced by the CBC or another Canadian agency, it’s not going to get traction bc our market is too small. Maybe Netflix would get in on it (they seem to greenlight anything) but a major reason why this is so polished is that Tom Hanks’ company is doing this.

And some people seem to want to defund the CBC anyways.

We don't have the market or 'star network' to produce anything comparable to what Hanks and Spielberg can. Even if we could, we would have to have US lead actors to sell it.

Band of Brothers (2001): $125 Mn.
Master of the Air (reported): $250 Mn.

Hyena Road (2015): $12.5 Mn
Passchendaele (2008): $20 Mn (and apparently took three years to raise.

The achievement that I find interesting is the Hanks and Spielberg have so much weight in the industry that their WWII collaborations don't have to reply on star power. Neither BoB or Pacific had known, big name actors in lead roles. Some of them are big name actors now because of them.

 

[OldSolduer]

Kapyong.

That is all.

 

[dapaterson]

Kapyong.

That is all.

"This is the story of 2 PPCLI as they prepare to move to Shilo."

 

[dimsum]

It’s interesting that a Dutch Netflix movie (The Forgotten Battle) had more Canadian military content than most Canadian shows.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

It’s interesting that a Dutch Netflix movie (The Forgotten Battle) had more Canadian military content than most Canadian shows.

I saw that one. It was pretty good. Calgary Highlanders assaulting across a canal?

 

[mariomike]

For readers who may not have seen it, Warriors of the Night is a Canadian documentary focusing on the technological developments both Bomber Command and the Luftwaffe used to give their air forces an edge over their opponents.

 

[dimsum]

I saw that one. It was pretty good. Calgary Highlanders assaulting across a canal?

Yep.

 

[dimsum]

Clip from the upcoming show. If it’s from the book, it’ll be the ferry flight from the US to England, trying to land in Thule, Greenland.

Somewhat-related, if the USAF doesn’t screen this series on their bases, at least in RAF Mildenhall (where the lineage, and the ”Square D” on the tail, continues with current 100th Air Refuelling Wing), then that is a huge PR fail.

They already screened the first two episodes in LA, not on a USAF base. As much as I hated the movie Pearl Harbor, at least they showed it in the actual location first.

 

[dimsum]

First two episodes come out on Apple TV+ next Friday (26 Jan)

 

[Furniture]

While you're waiting for Masters of the Air to come out on Apple, Netflix has a new documentary called Lancaster you can watch. It has a few RCAF crew members featured in it as well, though not this Lancaster...