Masters of the Air

This series takes the viewer from the B-17's flying from the US to Greenland and then on to England. BoB started with the training of Easy Co in GA. Pacific was similar to BoB. I felt like we missed out on knowing the characters here because they were just dumped on us and two of them were majors. I felt like I missed a couple of episodes and couldn't get caught up. I never got past the knowledge of the three or four main characters. The others all seemed alike and I couldn't differentiate them. The Tuskegee Airman seemed like an afterthought, but I'm glad they included them even though they weren't in the Eighth AF. Some people complain about CGI. I thought it was remarkable and I can't think of any other way it could have been done. Some reviewers have a problem with how the Brits were portrayed. I thought they were shown to be brave and resilient. Still, movies like this are a national treasure. The Eighth AF represents all our heroes who fought in the skies over Germany and Japan. The movie made sure the viewers knew Germany was pure evil in its intentions to conquer and subjugate the world. I would give BoB a 10, Pacific a 9, and this a solid 8.

I've been counting down the days to Masters of the Air ever since I saw the first trailer. Well, it's finally here and it definitely lives up to all the hype. This limited series will definitely be nominated for every major award there is. You can tell this was expensive to make. Like many have already pointed out it's brought to you by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. While it's not quite as good as their other World War II series, Band of Brothers, it's still pretty darn good. The way this series shows all the struggles and humanity of war is brilliant. I've used the word a few times now because that's what this series is...brilliant. I can't say enough about the cast either. They do a great job pulling you into their world and make you really care for these characters. Don't miss this series.

I was quite excited by this new series with Spielberg and co at the helm. But after a few episodes the script took a turn for the worse, why belittle the RAF making out they are some toff graduates from Oxford or Cambridge, quite embarrassing really. Of course the Americans are the only heros in this, utter BS. Spielberg is a f?@king numpty. There were many brave men from all sides but as always the yanks saved the day single handedly where the RAF were buffoons. We all know the British have the best armed services in the world and between me and you the yanks are somewhat jealous, so they try and make themselves look better. Spielberg yawn off.

He didn't think too much of the Hollywood "Memphis Belle". The B-17 movies he regarded the best are:

Memphis Belle (1944) 12 O'Clock High The War Lover

It's pretty sad that living memories of B-17 crews are gone now.

Some comments I can make based on long conversations with my dad about his combat experience:

1. The strain on the crews was terrible. They knew the odds against living through their tour were heavily against them. The airmen dealt with their fear in different ways, and it broke some of them. My dad just expected to die. The actors in MotA looked like they were having fun.

2. The odds of surviving the first 5 missions were about the same as surviving the rest of the tour, i.e. The crews learned. The series presented it as simply randomness in a shooting gallery. I'd like to have seen some bits about how the crews handled it and learned.

3. The show didn't really show much of any airmanship. Nor any of the variety of techniques the Luftwaffe used to penetrate their defenses. Such as the Luftwaffe pilots would aim for the B-17 cockpit. Nor anything about the aircrews fighting to bring home their damaged airplane and wounded crew.

4. Nothing much was said about how the crew coped with 60 degrees below zero and the lack of oxygen.

Some things are just lost knowledge. My dad would bring along two flak jackets. He didn't wear them, he put them on the floor and squatted on them. This is because the flak was designed to explode below the aircraft and shred it from below. I expect other crews did that, too, they weren't stupid.

He summed it up saying he wouldn't trade that experience for anything, and would not do it again for anything.

But still, the detail of the aircraft and beautiful photography made this a worthwhile series. Well recommended.

First of all let me start by saying that from a cinematic perspective this serie was beautifully made. The color grading was very nicely done. The actors however stayed a bit on the surface. I felt a bit of a lack of depth in the characters. I think It might be due to the many storylines.

The thing that annoyed me most though was the inaccuracy of facts. It made it appear that the RAF only had posh airmen while most of them came from working class families. And the dates and timing during the cours of the war was a little "played" with.

As a born and raised European the history of World War Two is embedded in our (school)system by our parents and grandparents who lived through the war and got in some ways traumatized by it.

Therefore doing a series about an important part of our past should be mindful of the few still alive by being accurate.