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We’ve been waiting for it for a few years… but now it's here. Finally, the $275m Masters of the Air mini-series is being streamed on Apple TV+.
Visit East of England brought the book’s author Donald L Miller and scriptwriter John Orloff to the East of England in 2017 to research the series, so we’re excited to see it come to fruition. Here’s a few questions we regularly get asked…
Masters of the Air screenwriter John Orloff, Masters of the Air author Donald L Miller and Playtone executive producer Kirk Saduski at Thorpe Abbotts, wartime home of the 100th Bomb Group. They were invited to the region by Visit East of England.
What is Masters of the Air?
Masters of the Air is the 2006 text book of the true story of the Mighty Eighth Air Force and the US bomber boys who fought the air war against Nazi Germany. It was written by noted historian Donald L Miller.
Masters of the Air author Donald L Miller explains the bomber war to Masters of the Air scriptwriter John Orloff in the American Air Museum at IWM Duxford in 2017.
What is the Masters of the Air TV series about?
Masters of the Air tells the story of the Eighth Air Force in the East of England, otherwise known as East Anglia, between 1942-45 through the prism of the brave actions of a group of men based at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, East of England with the 100th Bomb Group, otherwise known as The Bloody 100th.
One of the production companies behind Masters of the Air is Playtone. Their executive producer Kirk Saduski told us, ‘Masters of the Air is a dramatic retelling of the experience of those guys and that unique experience of the bombing air campaign over Germany.’ So there it is, from the horse’s mouth, as it were.
Help, I don’t have time to read Masters of the Air before it hits the screen! Is there a Masters of the Air story hack?
Glad you asked. The book is brilliant, but it’s a bit of a doorstop. So buy it and make it a nice leisurely read. If you want the gist of the Masters of the Air story that’s in the Apple TV+ mini-series, you’ll do worse than to read the book’s Prologue: The Bloody Hundredth, pages 1-24. That will tell you about the friendship between Major Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven and Major John ‘Bucky’ Egan, a key part of the Masters of the Air TV mini-series.
Alternatively, you can read our blogs on the main characters. They are…
When is Masters of the Air released?
The launch date is Friday, January 26, with two back-to-back episodes streaming. There’ll then be one episode a week through to March 15. Then you can binge watch to your heart’s content.
What’s the cast of Masters of the Air? Is Austin Butler in Masters of the Air? Is Callum Turner in Masters of the Air?
Woah there… one question at a time! When Masters of the Air was filmed in 2021, a group of unknown actors were cast to play the true characters.
Three years later a few of them are rather well-known, including Austin Butler, Oscar-nominated for playing Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s eponymous film, Callum Turner who appears in Fantastic Beasts, Oscar-nominated Barry Keoghan, and new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa, who was also a Ken in Barbie.
Here’s Austin Butler as Elvis…
… and here he is as Major Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven in Masters of the Air.
Who plays who in Masters of the Air
Where was Masters of the Air filmed?
The Masters of the Air set in Oxfordshire.
Masters of the Air was filmed in the Home Counties of England during the global Covid pandemic, but the story for Masters of the Air took place entirely in the East of England, namely Norfolk and Suffolk. This is where the airbases were and many are now museums and memorials to the Eighth Air Force.
Eighth Air Force museums and memorial sites in the East of England
Is Masters of the Air a sequel?
Kind of. It’s the third and final mini-series in a World War II trilogy following Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Is there a trailer for Masters of the Air?
Be our guest…
Is Masters of the Air a new Tom Hanks film? Is it a new Steven Spielberg film?
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are behind Masters of the Air.
It’s the final World War II mini-series in the trilogy from Tom Hanks’ Playtone and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, following Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Who produces Masters of the Air?
See above. Masters of the Air is financed and brought to us by Apple TV+ who should be thanked for their commitment after HBO, who did Band of Brothers and The Pacific, pulled out.
Masters of the Air is brought to us by the same people who produced Band of Brothers in 2001 and The Pacific in 2010.
Is Masters of the Air any good?
Come on! What a question! It’s from the same people who brought us Band of Brothers. That got 20 Emmy nominations and won 7 Emmys. It’s from the same people who brought us The Pacific. That got 24 Emmy nominations and won 8 Emmys. Of course it’s going to be good!
Oh, and here’s Kirk again… ‘Masters of the Air includes visual effects that you’ve never seen before; aerial combat in a way that is as close as technologically possible, right now, of what it’s like to be in the nose or the cockpit or the fuselage of a B-17 as you’re being shot at by flak or being approached by firing Messerschmidts.’
Wow! We can’t wait…
