Spielberg/Hanks 'Masters of the Air' sequel is 'Band of Brothers' With Planes

[BigRedChief]

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produce Apple's upcoming follow-up to the epic WWII series, with Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan leading an up-and-coming cast

Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, and scripted by John Orloff, Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen, and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air.

Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich, is at the heart of Masters of the Air. Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all.

Ranging in location from the bucolic fields and villages of southeast England, to the harsh deprivations of a German Prisoner of War Camp, and depicting a unique and crucial time in world history, Masters of the Air is enormous in both scale and scope, and a genuine cinematic achievement.

[Chief Pagan]

A few months ago, I was on a YouTube kick watching videos about the Pacific aircraft carrier battles of WWII.

Pretty crazy stuff.

[Stryker]

BOB was AWESOME! PACIFIC, Meh - I hope they nail this one!

[BigRedChief]

OP updated with the fantastic trailer released this week.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Stryker

BOB was AWESOME! PACIFIC, Meh - I hope they nail this one!

From the looks of the trailer, it looks like they nailed it.

[BigRedChief]

[Bowser]

Can't wait

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Stryker

BOB was AWESOME! PACIFIC, Meh - I hope they nail this one!

The Pacific was hardly "meh." While it wasn't as good as BoB, it was still awesome. Because it focused on the combat and non-combat experiences of three individual soldiers from different units rather than the men of a single company, it lacked the cohesiveness and didn't have quite the action content of BoB. But all those stories were still interesting.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Frazod

The Pacific was hardly "meh." While it wasn't as good as BoB, it was still awesome. Because it focused on the combat and non-combat experiences of three individual soldiers from different units rather than the men of a single company, it lacked the cohesiveness and didn't have quite the action content of BoB. But all those stories were still interesting.

I rewatched it recently and I thought it did a nice job of encapsulating the comparative meat grinder that was the pacific theater. Especially in comparison to the European theater.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I rewatched it recently and I thought it did a nice job of encapsulating the comparative meat grinder that was the pacific theater. Especially in comparison to the European theater.

If you haven't, I highly recommend reading Eugene Sledge's book, With The Old Guard, which his part of The Pacific is based upon. It reads like you and he are just sitting around and he's telling you what happened to him. The show only scratched the surface of how truly horrible it was.

I would have much rather fought in Europe than the Pacific.

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I rewatched it recently and I thought it did a nice job of encapsulating the comparative meat grinder that was the pacific theater. Especially in comparison to the European theater.

The Okinawa episode.

[Cheater5]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I rewatched it recently and I thought it did a nice job of encapsulating the comparative meat grinder that was the pacific theater. Especially in comparison to the European theater.

I suppose, but as has been said by someone with far more historical knowledge and combat experience than me-- the deadliest battle is the one you're currently in. Who can say Tarawa was worse than Omaha Beach?

The fact that 8 of 11 Germans who died in WWII were killed by the Russians certainly helped the Allies, but the U.S. still lost more than twice the number of troops in Europe in a shorter amount of total time than we did in the Pacific.

A couple of months ago I posted a fact re: the air war over Europe; more Army Air Corps soldiers were killed in action over the skies of Europe than the entire Marine Corps during the war. Was the air war more of a meat-grinder than the Pacific theater? If you go by pure number of casualties, it certainly was.

Anyway. I didn't mean to come off like a dick. If we were drinking beers around a fire, you'd know by my tone of voice I'm just making conversation. I'm looking forward to this too.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Cheater5

I suppose, but as has been said by someone with far more historical knowledge and combat experience than me-- the deadliest battle is the one you're currently in. Who can say Tarawa was worse than Omaha Beach?

The fact that 8 of 11 Germans who died in WWII were killed by the Russians certainly helped the Allies, but the U.S. still lost more than twice the number of troops in Europe in a shorter amount of total time than we did in the Pacific.

A couple of months ago I posted a fact re: the air war over Europe; more Army Air Corps soldiers were killed in action over the skies of Europe than the entire Marine Corps during the war. Was the air war more of a meat-grinder than the Pacific theater? If you go by pure number of casualties, it certainly was.

Anyway. I didn't mean to come off like a dick. If we were drinking beers around a fire, you'd know by my tone of voice I'm just making conversation. I'm looking forward to this too.

The main thing that made the Pacific theater worse was the enemy. Your average German soldier wasn't all that different from your average American soldier. Sure, they were capable of great violence and acts of savagery, but generally if you were an American captured by Germans you'd survive mostly unscathed. Same with Germans captured by Americans. The Japanese, OTOH, were generally sadistic fanatics with little regard for their own lives and absolutely none for ours or anybody else's.

Sure, more people died in the European theater. More people fought there. And those bombers conducting daylight raids were deathtraps. But who would you rather face in combat; Germans or Japanese?

[BleedingRed]

P-38 and p-47 were my planes I loved. Also had soft spot for P-40. On American side.

Germans FW-190, and ME-262

British Spitrefire mk9 was a beast

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by BleedingRed

P-38 and p-47 were my planes I loved. Also had soft spot for P-40. On American side.

Germans FW-190, and ME-262

British Spitrefire mk9 was a beast

Spitfire was my favorite as a kid, then the P-51D Mustang, and then the F4U Corsair. Was also a big fan of the F6 Hellcat.

In the early '90s there was a WWII air combat sim game called 'AirWarrior,' that I played for awhile, which featured 'realistic' aerodynamics and performance parameters for each aircraft. So, for example, if you tried to hold a max rate flat turn in any plane, it'd quickly lose enough AS to stall, usually resulting in a spin. The Corsair would flip over into an upside-down flat spin, true to the actual plane's tendencies.

I quickly learned the advantages/disadvantages between stall fighters and E fighters, and why planes like the Mustang and the Corsair were so feared by Axis pilots.

[DJ's left nut]

Was a big Mustang fan for obvious reasons - it was a war winner as a bomber escort.

And man, if you don't like the P-38 lighting, you're doing it wrong.

Now as to the show itself - I'm a little worried about the characters. BoB was character driven. The action/cinematography helped, but it was Damien Lewis, Ron Livingston and all the rest of those guys just killing those roles that made that series timeless.

I don't feel like these guys look like they have that?