Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have šonce again done a public serviceš“.
Like āBand of Brothersā and āThe Pacificā before it, the new series āMasters of the Airā is a profound act of devotion to the memory of the men who won World War II, this time focused on the air war inš Europe.
Telling the story of a nationās history will always depend on popularizers more than academic historians (especially when tź§he latter donāt like their countryās history very much), and Spielberg and Hanks are better popularizers than anyone has cause to expect.
āMastersā tells thš e story of the 100th Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force, known as the Bloody 100th, not for the destruction it wrought but the punishment it took in soš¬me of the most hazardous duty of the war.
No one has ever reproduced the story, theš¦ machines, the conditions and the missions of this aspect of the war as accurately and carefully before, and we can assume no one ever will again.
Ten years išn the making with a $250 million budget, this is a production at the very highest level of technical proficiency.
The B-17sš, āthe long-range bombers known as Flying Fortresses or Forts for short, steal the show.
ź¦ÆThey āare lovingly reproduced and often look like something out of a painting.
Which doesnāt obscure their deadly purpose ošr the deadly business of flying one over hostile territory.
If nothing else, āMastersā brings home the experience of flying in a tin can breathing through primitive air masks in below-zero temperatures while getting shot at by German anti-aircraft guns and trying to fend off ferocious assaults from mį©į©į©į©į©į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©š±į©į©į©uch faster German fighters.
It is as terrifying as it sounds.
Relying on Air Force records, the showās mšakers have obsessively reproduced thą¶£e exact position of each plane and its precise fate during missions.
As the screenwriter Jāohn Orloff has explained, they felt a factual rendering was mandatory; this wasnāt āStar Warsā ā a made-up conflict involving fictional people ā but real battles in which Americans gave their last full measure of devotion.
Orloff notes that about three months after its arrivalš in š England, 34 of the 100thās 36 crews had been shot down.
The tour of duty was 25 missions, but the aviatoršs made it through just 11 on average.
In contrast to thź¦e British, who bombed at night, the United States engaged in daylight bombing that was supposed to be precision in nature.
Without protection from fighį©į©į©į©į©į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©ā¤ā¤ā¤ā¤į©š±į©į©į©ter planes, whichš wasnāt available at the beginning, this made the B-17s sitting ducks.
Sometimes the missions involved hitting industrial sites, sometimes they targeted cities themselvšes and German morale, sometimes they were designed to bait the Luftwaffe into combat so it could be degraded.
With the introduction of the long-range P-51 fighters that could properly defend the B-17s, the baąµ©lance of the air war shifted decisively in 1944.Ā
Thereās been a long-runnź¦”ing debate about the morality and efficacy of the allied bombing campaign.
Thereās no doubt therše was a real moral cost to the campaign and its wanton destruction.
Unfortunately, though, there was no easy way to take down a totalitarian poāwer that had come to dominate the European continent, and for a long time, strategic bombing was our only serious means to attack the Nazis directly.
As for the efficacy, if nothing else, the campaign diverted massive Našzi resources to air defense.
But it achieved more than that.
āBy 1945,ā military historian Cathal Nolan writes, āthe bombers would destroy Germanyās transportation systems and demoą·“lish most vital war industries, especially oil supply and refining, and effectively end fighter production.ā
He continues, āź¦Neither Germany, nor Japan could by the end of their respective wars move military supplies, complete production or deploy weapons and divisions as they wanted, even inside their homelands.ā
Young American men gave their all in harrowing conditionās to make this contribution to victorš¦©y.
āMastersā is their story as it deservš¦es to beź¦æ told.
Twitter: @RichLowry