This show has been available for some few months and has garnered many accolades. The producers involved :Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, know the territory well: The greatest generation. This 9-episode series focused on the air war, especially the air war over western Europe prior to and after the Normandy invasion in June, 1944. The invasion has been well documented and well storied. The anniversary is well attended, the beaches the site of many visitors during the summer months.
This production focused on pilots and crews of the B-17 bomber, one of Boeing's major contributions to the air war in Europe and the Pacific. In brief, the B-17 was a 4-engine aircraft with long range capability plus significant payload capacity. The plane also carried many defense weapons: single and paired .50 cal machine guns mounted in the tail, the nose, the under belly, the top, and the sides. These guns would earn the respect of attacking fighters from the Luftwaffe. The crew consisted of pilot, co-pilot, radio man, navigator, bombardier, and 6 gunners.
The US 8th Army Air Forces flew from bases all over the UK. Ground crews and maintenance personnel populated all of these bases, caring fervently and meticulously for the planes, before and after their missions.
The series followed in accurate detail the lives of several surviving crew members before, during and after the conflict ended in May of 1945. During the course of the air war, crew members had a goal of flying 25 combat missions, although chances of making those 25 were about 50-50. The casualty rates were very high and varies because of targets, weather, and damage incurred during the mission. The B-17 demonstrated major toughness: many returning bombers showed extensive damage beyond just disabled engines. Control surfaces-elevators, rudders, and airlerons were often blown away completely, or rendered useless by damage from antiaircraft shells. The thin aluminum skin provided little protection. Crew members were often wounded and would be hours away from first aid and hospitals. The cramped interior spaces offered little incentive to move around unless absolutely necessary.
Prior to D-Day, the goal of the 8th was to reduce the Nazi Luftwaffe air force as much as possible. Gen. Eisenhower declared that the invasion could not be successful without complete control of the air over the beaches. Hence, fighter aircraft became primary targets along with their bases and factories inside Germany. Many missions deep in Germany were targeting factories producing air frames and engines for the Luftwaffe.
During the aerial combat, many flight crews were able to bail out of the damaged aircraft, landing in occupied France or Germany itself. If lucky, a crew member was captured by German soldiers and taken to a POW camp. There the conditions were not great but the crews were fed and reasonably housed against the elements, one of the few high points of German behaviors during the war.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg did not want to glorify war in any way but to tell honest stories depicting actual events that were involved with individuals. One example included the mission that ended when the plane flew to North Africa rather than return home to England. Another involved a crewman who bailed out over Belgium and was taken by the underground to the coast and returned to the UK. Another involved a pilot, "Rosie" Rosenthal who bailed out into the hands of Russyan soldiers as they crossed into Germany in Summer, 1945. He returned to England to finish 52 total missions.
The visual effects were state of the art as digital technology allows graphics never seen before. The aerial panoramas gave excellent representations of vast air armadas that flew with hundreds of aircraft in tight formations to and from the targets. The film also depicted the cost of the air war on pilots and crews: knowing ahead of time before the mission began, that many of the planes would not return.
Today, the 8th Air Force has its own museum in Savannah, Georgia, dedicated to the war effort of those men who flew those missions at great cost. Names involved included Gen. Curtis LeMay, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, and Gen. Hap Arnold.
The series has high ratings and is often watched in total. Actor Austin Butler gives an outstanding performance as do many of the other main characters.
Watch it!
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