This series is based off of the book "Masters of the Air" from Donald L Miller. So while you’re watching, keep in mind that these arent fictional characters but are based on 100% real men who went through the bombing campaigns of WW2. John Egan (Bucky), Gale Cleven (Buck), Harry Crosby, Ken Lemmons, Curt Biddick (Barry Keoghan) were all real human beings.
@jp1170 they normally have one main book but they do use others as well usually personal accounts from individuals. Such as Harry Crosbys book. The Pacific for example usually only references the Pacific by Hugh Ambrose but they also used Robert Leckies book "helmet for my pillow " and Eugene sledges book "with the old breed". Among others.
@@jameswg13 No, you have that backwards. Hugh Ambrose wrote a companion piece for the television series. The Pacific was based on Sledge's, and Leckie's books
@jp1170 no he and his dad had already been working on the book. As there are stories in there they couldn't fit in to the show and vice versa. Then in the end of course with the loss of his dad they decided to release it at same time as the show.
the rear gunners hands werent burned,, since he hadn't fired yet. rather the metal is ice cold, so he got frost nip/bite. akin to grabbing a bare metal pole in sub-zero temps with no gloves
I'm listening to the audiobook for Masters of the Air, and the section describing how prevalent frostbite was among bomber crews is eye-opening and gut wrenching in equal terms. One bombardier was passed for an hour due to oxygen feed damage, and ended up losing both arms, both legs, ears, eyes and large portions of his cheeks, simply because his bomber had taken battle damage and he ended up directly exposed to the freezing, on-rushing air.
@@ScreamingTc its crazy bbecause generally you wouldnt even think of frostbite when it comes to handeling guns, it would be burns. but yeah. I went to Thorpe Abbots field where the 100th was stationed out of, all thats left is a small section of runway, a single harddstand and the control tower. got to meet a brit who was a kid when the war was happening, showed us some pictures and was telling us stories, the museum thats there is just relics from the 100th specifically, i.e. clothes, piecees of planes that sorta thing. all of it donated by either the crews themselves or family
The 100th inside the 8th Airforce was known as “the bloody 100th” because they took so many losses during their time. The 8th Airforce lost more men than the entire Marine Corps did fighting the Japanese from Guadalcanal all the way to Okinawa during world war 2.
October 14, 1943 was named "Black Thursday" on that day the Army Air Corp lost 60 bombers on one raid. That was a loss of 600 plus men in one day. German Luftwaffe had a field day.
Just some info, results of bombing was so bad they almost stopped daylight bombing, in fact at one point they actually ordered them to fly lower which turned out worse, they also lost many even before getting to the target because of the fighters, things turned around some what when they finally had long range fighter escort.
My Dad was in the Mighty 8th, his bomb group flew B24 Liberators. He was a .50 cal armorer and was pulled 4 times to be a waist gunner when they had casualties and needed someone to fill out a crew since he knew the gun inside and out. He told me it was absolute soul crushing terror to be on a mission when the flak started. They were young men tasked with an impossible job.
Incredible. It's so recent yet so unimaginable for most nowadays to ever find themselves in that situation. Nothing but respect for your Dad and his comrades, heroes one and all.
The losses during this early period of the war for American bomber crews were horrendous. The chances of crewmen making it to the end of his tour (25 missions, not including those that were scrubbed) was one in five, and those that did survive more often than not ended up living with horrific ptsd.
Air crews at this time had a life expectancy of 11 missions. Most were never expected to make even half way through their tour. The bravery of these men was insane. Yet another reason they really were the "Greatest Generation" hands down.
Speaking of Americans confused by people driving on the left, I was in Drogheda a dozen years ago and stepped off the curb looking only to the right. But cars driving on the left came from the left side. I barely got hit: a car just tapped my knee as she stopped. I was surprised, and I think the driver was terrified. But she wasn't on her phone and reacted quickly; if I had her contact info I'd thank her for driving well and not killing me, as could have easily happened.
Enjoyed your reaction, which showed up on my feed. A bit of history: At first the US thought the B-17 bombers were impregnable fortresses with its 12 machine guns, hence the nickname "fort" for the planes. They were wrong. A bomber cannot fight off enemy fighters, lacking the mobility to do so. After numerous losses, we decided that the bombers needed fighter escorts. We were in full production, trying to produce escort fighter planes to attack German fighters, but the problem was not only being short in numbers, but lacking the fuel capacity to make the round trip flight to Germany, plus not being able to fly as high as bombers did, so when the escorts were used, they only accompanied the bombers to France, then had to return to England. So constant re-design was necessary. The P-51 Mustang became the fighter plane of choice for the US, but it still needed tweaking. It wasn't until the British Rolls Royce Merlin engine was used that the Mustang became the perfect fighter against the German fighters. The Merlin engine gave it better mileage, speed and ability to fly at the same 35,000 feet height the bombers were flying. Eventually the Allies gained air superiority, especially since we were bombing Germany's fuel sources, such as the oil refineries in Eastern Europe and Germany's own synthetic fuel factories (Germany does not have its own source of petroleum). After air superiority was achieved, we were able to focus on the invasion of Normandy in 1944. By 1945, the Allies achieved air supremacy. If anything, WWII taught the world that wars would be won by air supremacy, over all else. Planes were the future.
As to why they did not drop due to clouds, All around the port is houses apartments, Businesses and possible schools and Hospitals. Stand on the third floor of a building and drop a potato in to a 12.7 x 12/7 cm pot. Your margin of error is finite and you don't want to miss, not just to avoid needless civilian casualties but because you don't want to have to return.
I couldn't wait until this series started, and I didn't expect reactors to pick up on it so fast. I'm so glad you did; it was a great reaction, though I must admit it was the Northern Irish accents that got me to subscribe. I lived in Belfast for five years as a kid (wee'un), and it was quite a nostalgic experience. I'm looking forward to the next one.
I like how in Masters of the Air they showed the B-17s were all damaged from flak and the fighters mg fire when they were on the ground at base. That shows why they were called Flying Fortresses because they could take a beating and still fly home, but they can only take so much or if they were hit in critical places.
The actual reason they were called flying fortresses was that Boeing mistakenly believed that the B-17 would not need fighter escort to fly missions, and that the 12 machine guns were sufficient for defense. They were proved wrong.
Please watch band of brothers as well. It is more than a good watch. Even though 1-2 of you guys have watched it. Thank you for watching the masters of the air tho!
I feel like the majority of the actors in this series are British (just like in Band of Brothers), at first I was kind of annoyed (even though I love British actors), but I had remind myself that I guess it doesn’t really matter, the actors are amazing and I can believe they’re American.
The script in this series is awful, the jumping from the bar scene to the bomber falling to the arrival in Greenland makes little sense. I can’t see past Elvis in all of Austin’s dialogue deliveries, seriously apart from the aerial sequences and the mess scenes the show is pants. At 12:22 was that a serious question? Other good scenes are those mentioning of the powdered eggs being disgusting to eat, the briefing. I highly recommend you watch Memphis Belle (1990) and 12 o’clock high then try watching this series and you’ll see why it’s not what they are making it out to be. ‘Let’s rack em up and knock ‘em down’ bad scripting, these guys were professionals this wasn’t a ball game. Not to mention they copied the scene of the near air collision from Memphis Belle, also the egg scene. The most authentic scripting so far was ‘Roger Wilco’. That’s proper pilot/ crew chatter. Also the frostbite scene, welcome to war at 27,000 feet, -30C at that height, anything metal sticks to skin and peels it off. At least they got these things right
Rediculous how this series portrayed the battle-hardened RAF guys - who have been fighting for 3 years by the time these US guys come in. Plus, the RAF were from all classes, so if an East Ender had that fight, the yank is going down :-) . heroes all though
@@nzfreeski yeah see it time and again with things in the pacific theatre. Will be interesting to see if they do much to do with the d day landings . The 8th unfortunately didn't hit a damn thing during the d day Landings and the the RAF didn't do much either. Had a couple of relatives in the RAAF neither of them survived. Most of our mob was in the AIF in new Guinea which was a horrible joint to be in.
@@matthewcharles5867the RAF established air superiority over Hermann Göring's Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, and led the allied strategic bombing effort.
@@michaelmiklosofficial yeah during the d day landings both the RAF and 8th air force failed to do much damage to their targets. It's written down in their own reports that they failed pretty miserably at hitting emplacements on the landing beaches. The 8th had 45 static emplacements as targets and didn't hit one. The RAF on that day had slightly better results. Even with air superiority you still have to hit your targets and there are many occasions when that didn't happen for all sorts of different reasons. The mosquito bomber's are a pretty good example at times they had fantastic results and other times they didn't.
This series is based off of the book "Masters of the Air" from Donald L Miller. So while you’re watching, keep in mind that these arent fictional characters but are based on 100% real men who went through the bombing campaigns of WW2. John Egan (Bucky), Gale Cleven (Buck), Harry Crosby, Ken Lemmons, Curt Biddick (Barry Keoghan) were all real human beings.
Also based off Harry Crosbys book on a wing and a prayer
@@jameswg13 I wondered if they used any other source material but the opening credits list only Donald Millers book as inspiration
@jp1170 they normally have one main book but they do use others as well usually personal accounts from individuals. Such as Harry Crosbys book.
The Pacific for example usually only references the Pacific by Hugh Ambrose but they also used Robert Leckies book "helmet for my pillow " and Eugene sledges book "with the old breed". Among others.
@@jameswg13 No, you have that backwards. Hugh Ambrose wrote a companion piece for the television series. The Pacific was based on Sledge's, and Leckie's books
@jp1170 no he and his dad had already been working on the book. As there are stories in there they couldn't fit in to the show and vice versa. Then in the end of course with the loss of his dad they decided to release it at same time as the show.
the rear gunners hands werent burned,, since he hadn't fired yet. rather the metal is ice cold, so he got frost nip/bite. akin to grabbing a bare metal pole in sub-zero temps with no gloves
I'm listening to the audiobook for Masters of the Air, and the section describing how prevalent frostbite was among bomber crews is eye-opening and gut wrenching in equal terms. One bombardier was passed for an hour due to oxygen feed damage, and ended up losing both arms, both legs, ears, eyes and large portions of his cheeks, simply because his bomber had taken battle damage and he ended up directly exposed to the freezing, on-rushing air.
@@ScreamingTc I'm reading the book too, and it is horrifying, the casualties and what they endured.
@@ScreamingTc its crazy bbecause generally you wouldnt even think of frostbite when it comes to handeling guns, it would be burns. but yeah. I went to Thorpe Abbots field where the 100th was stationed out of, all thats left is a small section of runway, a single harddstand and the control tower. got to meet a brit who was a kid when the war was happening, showed us some pictures and was telling us stories, the museum thats there is just relics from the 100th specifically, i.e. clothes, piecees of planes that sorta thing. all of it donated by either the crews themselves or family
That's crazy! But makes sense!
@@ScreamingTc Jesus, at that point just put a bullet in my head.
The 100th inside the 8th Airforce was known as “the bloody 100th” because they took so many losses during their time.
The 8th Airforce lost more men than the entire Marine Corps did fighting the Japanese from Guadalcanal all the way to Okinawa during world war 2.
The 7th Air Force was doing the job over Japan using B-29s.
That is crazy! Scary times ahead for this series!
"Welcome to the Air 100th, Meatball", is the top line of the first 2 episodes. What a good member of the team.
The 8th Air Force based in England during WW2 lost over 90,000 men
Oh god, scary times ahead in this series
October 14, 1943 was named "Black Thursday" on that day the Army Air Corp lost 60 bombers on one raid. That was a loss of 600 plus men in one day. German Luftwaffe had a field day.
Oh god 😮
Just some info, results of bombing was so bad they almost stopped daylight bombing, in fact at one point they actually ordered them to fly lower which turned out worse, they also lost many even before getting to the target because of the fighters, things turned around some what when they finally had long range fighter escort.
Those early days of the Campaign were the dark days, until Fighter support and sheer numbers helped turn the tide.
Don't know exactly when the B - 24's and B - 17's received the " Top Secret " Norden bombsight
They really lean into that dilemma during episode 2. So interesting!
My Dad was in the Mighty 8th, his bomb group flew B24 Liberators. He was a .50 cal armorer and was pulled 4 times to be a waist gunner when they had casualties and needed someone to fill out a crew since he knew the gun inside and out. He told me it was absolute soul crushing terror to be on a mission when the flak started. They were young men tasked with an impossible job.
Incredible. It's so recent yet so unimaginable for most nowadays to ever find themselves in that situation. Nothing but respect for your Dad and his comrades, heroes one and all.
haven't seen Masters of the Air yet i'm here for the algorithm.
Appreciate the support 😂
Go watch it!!❤
The losses during this early period of the war for American bomber crews were horrendous. The chances of crewmen making it to the end of his tour (25 missions, not including those that were scrubbed) was one in five, and those that did survive more often than not ended up living with horrific ptsd.
Air crews at this time had a life expectancy of 11 missions. Most were never expected to make even half way through their tour. The bravery of these men was insane. Yet another reason they really were the "Greatest Generation" hands down.
That's terrifying! It shows incredible bravery that these men kept going up knowing what they would be facing
Its -45 C up there.
Yeah not a good idea to take off gloves then
And un-pressurized.
Speaking of Americans confused by people driving on the left, I was in Drogheda a dozen years ago and stepped off the curb looking only to the right. But cars driving on the left came from the left side. I barely got hit: a car just tapped my knee as she stopped. I was surprised, and I think the driver was terrified. But she wasn't on her phone and reacted quickly; if I had her contact info I'd thank her for driving well and not killing me, as could have easily happened.
10:50 I knew the claps were coming. I did too.
It is an involuntary reaction for any Irish person when hearing that song! 😂
@@CoyzyMovieNight or at least for anyone who knows the song.
Yep Band Of Brothers is a 10 part series you will enjoy!!! it is also based on a true story!!!
Oh Danny has Band Of Brothers high on his list of things he wants me to watch! We will definitely being doing it on the channel at some point ❤️
Enjoyed your reaction, which showed up on my feed.
A bit of history: At first the US thought the B-17 bombers were impregnable fortresses with its 12 machine guns, hence the nickname "fort" for the planes. They were wrong. A bomber cannot fight off enemy fighters, lacking the mobility to do so. After numerous losses, we decided that the bombers needed fighter escorts.
We were in full production, trying to produce escort fighter planes to attack German fighters, but the problem was not only being short in numbers, but lacking the fuel capacity to make the round trip flight to Germany, plus not being able to fly as high as bombers did, so when the escorts were used, they only accompanied the bombers to France, then had to return to England. So constant re-design was necessary. The P-51 Mustang became the fighter plane of choice for the US, but it still needed tweaking. It wasn't until the British Rolls Royce Merlin engine was used that the Mustang became the perfect fighter against the German fighters. The Merlin engine gave it better mileage, speed and ability to fly at the same 35,000 feet height the bombers were flying.
Eventually the Allies gained air superiority, especially since we were bombing Germany's fuel sources, such as the oil refineries in Eastern Europe and Germany's own synthetic fuel factories (Germany does not have its own source of petroleum). After air superiority was achieved, we were able to focus on the invasion of Normandy in 1944. By 1945, the Allies achieved air supremacy. If anything, WWII taught the world that wars would be won by air supremacy, over all else. Planes were the future.
Thanks so much for this, so interesting! But looks like there could be a rough road ahead in this series 😮
Salute to these heroes who took the war to the Reich.
Absolutely heroes all
This is the first time I have seen anything in this series,my father flew jets in the U.S.A.F ,this was good guys 😊
So glad to have found your channel.
As to why they did not drop due to clouds, All around the port is houses apartments, Businesses and possible schools and Hospitals. Stand on the third floor of a building and drop a potato in to a 12.7 x 12/7 cm pot. Your margin of error is finite and you don't want to miss, not just to avoid needless civilian casualties but because you don't want to have to return.
I couldn't wait until this series started, and I didn't expect reactors to pick up on it so fast. I'm so glad you did; it was a great reaction, though I must admit it was the Northern Irish accents that got me to subscribe. I lived in Belfast for five years as a kid (wee'un), and it was quite a nostalgic experience. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Thank you so much for the sub! Very excited about this series, we’re really enjoying it so far
I like how in Masters of the Air they showed the B-17s were all damaged from flak and the fighters mg fire when they were on the ground at base. That shows why they were called Flying Fortresses because they could take a beating and still fly home, but they can only take so much or if they were hit in critical places.
The actual reason they were called flying fortresses was that Boeing mistakenly believed that the B-17 would not need fighter escort to fly missions, and that the 12 machine guns were sufficient for defense. They were proved wrong.
I knew about the machine guns and I know they weren't that effective.@@catherinelw9365
They can definitely take a beating, but the fighters did seem to cut through them when they were given the chance
Yeah, but the fighters were mostly swarming those five bombers.@@CoyzyMovieNight
Back in WW2 the U.S. Air Force was known as the United States Army Air Force in 1947 it became U.S.A.F
I thought it was the US Army Air Corp.
Interesting, thanks!
@@catherinelw9365you’re correct 😉
Please watch band of brothers as well. It is more than a good watch. Even though 1-2 of you guys have watched it. Thank you for watching the masters of the air tho!
Niamh here - we will definitely be getting to band of brothers on the channel eventually! I’m very excited to see it ❤️
So cool that you guys are watching this show. Love your reactions.
Awesome reaction of my favorite episode of Masters Of The Air!!!!😊😊😊😊
Thanks!
Excellent reactions... thank you ‼️‼️
Great job you two
this follows the 100th Bomb Group
I feel like the majority of the actors in this series are British (just like in Band of Brothers), at first I was kind of annoyed (even though I love British actors), but I had remind myself that I guess it doesn’t really matter, the actors are amazing and I can believe they’re American.
Can y’all imagine being up there for fifteen hours with nine other guys with only a bucket for everyone’s #1 and #2
I could handle that, but the 50 degrees below zero is what I couldn't handle. Anything in a bucket would freeze, so no smell.
🤢
If you have the opportunity, a great older movie about the American bombing campaign in Europe is 12 O'clock High. No CGI, great cast
The script in this series is awful, the jumping from the bar scene to the bomber falling to the arrival in Greenland makes little sense. I can’t see past Elvis in all of Austin’s dialogue deliveries, seriously apart from the aerial sequences and the mess scenes the show is pants. At 12:22 was that a serious question? Other good scenes are those mentioning of the powdered eggs being disgusting to eat, the briefing. I highly recommend you watch Memphis Belle (1990) and 12 o’clock high then try watching this series and you’ll see why it’s not what they are making it out to be. ‘Let’s rack em up and knock ‘em down’ bad scripting, these guys were professionals this wasn’t a ball game. Not to mention they copied the scene of the near air collision from Memphis Belle, also the egg scene. The most authentic scripting so far was ‘Roger Wilco’. That’s proper pilot/ crew chatter. Also the frostbite scene, welcome to war at 27,000 feet, -30C at that height, anything metal sticks to skin and peels it off. At least they got these things right
Rediculous how this series portrayed the battle-hardened RAF guys - who have been fighting for 3 years by the time these US guys come in. Plus, the RAF were from all classes, so if an East Ender had that fight, the yank is going down :-) . heroes all though
Have to make the yanks look good since their late for another war.
@@matthewcharles5867 exactly - the US guys were also heroes, but these film makers - sigh
@@nzfreeski yeah see it time and again with things in the pacific theatre. Will be interesting to see if they do much to do with the d day landings . The 8th unfortunately didn't hit a damn thing during the d day Landings and the the RAF didn't do much either. Had a couple of relatives in the RAAF neither of them survived. Most of our mob was in the AIF in new Guinea which was a horrible joint to be in.
@@matthewcharles5867the RAF established air superiority over Hermann Göring's Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, and led the allied strategic bombing effort.
@@michaelmiklosofficial yeah during the d day landings both the RAF and 8th air force failed to do much damage to their targets. It's written down in their own reports that they failed pretty miserably at hitting emplacements on the landing beaches. The 8th had 45 static emplacements as targets and didn't hit one. The RAF on that day had slightly better results. Even with air superiority you still have to hit your targets and there are many occasions when that didn't happen for all sorts of different reasons.
The mosquito bomber's are a pretty good example at times they had fantastic results and other times they didn't.