Movies - TV
How Historically Accurate Is Apple TV’s Masters Of The Air?
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
The World War II drama series "Masters of the Air" on Apple TV+ follows the authentic story of USAAF majors dispatched to England to aid the Allied war effort in 1943.
Adapted from Donald L. Miller's book, "Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany," the show stars Austin Butler and Callum Turner.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, renowned for their precision in war dramas like "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific," co-produced the series, but some fans question its accuracy.
The book's author, Donald L. Miller, recently spoke to USA Today, and he ran down what "Masters of the Air" got right and what it fudged for the sake of drama.
Per Miller, the leading roles portrayed by Butler, Turner, Barry Keoghan, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, and Sawyer Spielberg are all based on real people from the era.
Miller said that while British and American pilots got along, the depicted spikiness was quite real. The American pilots were better funded and carried with them a "sexy" image.
German POW camps are realistically depicted, showing prisoners having unexpected leeway and privacy to build secret radios and plan ways to try to escape.
The real-life planes were as dangerous as they looked on the show and could be punctured with a screwdriver. Nazi planes would often target the pilots specifically.
Missing from the show were the Swiss officials with Nazi ties. The showrunners "were hoping to tell the unknown story of airmen who suffered in these Swiss camps," Miller said.