Masters of the Air
Hilarious reading here.
its a movie/series not a documentary!!
Who cares if they don’t wear masks at 18000 feet or the P51s had red tails?
Do you criticise the technique of the staff in BBCs Casualty? Or the authenticity of the Expendables? If you do, get a life.
It’s entertainment pure and simple. The audience DONT CARE if the aircraft have the wrong markings……
its a movie/series not a documentary!!
Who cares if they don’t wear masks at 18000 feet or the P51s had red tails?
Do you criticise the technique of the staff in BBCs Casualty? Or the authenticity of the Expendables? If you do, get a life.
It’s entertainment pure and simple. The audience DONT CARE if the aircraft have the wrong markings……
short flights long nights
The B-17 gunners had only enough ammo for ~60 seconds of fire (I think the top turret had a little more). While that's a lot compared to (for example) the ~14 seconds of fire for a Hurricane fighter, fighters were not in the 'fight' for hours at a time - a B-17 might be over enemy territory for 4 or 5 hours straight! So aside from the risk his fellow airman of 'undisciplined' fire, they needed use care that they didn't run out of ammo early and leave themselves defenseless against further attacks.
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I've done a bit of digging on line and I've found the following figures for the ammo carried on a B17-G:
305 rounds per gun (RPG) for each of the two single Cheek guns
365 RPG for each of the twin Chin Turret guns
600 RPG for each of the Waist guns
650 RPG for each of the twin Upper Turret guns
500 RPG for each of the twin Ball Turrets guns
565 RPG for each of the Twin Rear Turret (sic) guns
At approx 800 rounds per minute that's around 23 - 50 secs per gun. So, firing in short (aimed???) bursts was obviously the order of the day!!!
305 rounds per gun (RPG) for each of the two single Cheek guns
365 RPG for each of the twin Chin Turret guns
600 RPG for each of the Waist guns
650 RPG for each of the twin Upper Turret guns
500 RPG for each of the twin Ball Turrets guns
565 RPG for each of the Twin Rear Turret (sic) guns
At approx 800 rounds per minute that's around 23 - 50 secs per gun. So, firing in short (aimed???) bursts was obviously the order of the day!!!
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Evertonian
Finished the series & found it a little underwhelming. The end seemed rushed & almost like they were just ticking off a checklist of "Things you must feature in a WWII series".
I don't doubt the events, but the priorities seemed odd. The Spy, Tuskegee Airmen, the Eastern front, all just seemed rushed & underdone IMHO. Still, I'm glad the story got told.
I don't doubt the events, but the priorities seemed odd. The Spy, Tuskegee Airmen, the Eastern front, all just seemed rushed & underdone IMHO. Still, I'm glad the story got told.
As with all CGI of WW2 aeroplanes, the speeds they fly at look completely wrong. The ME109s flashing through the B17 formations appear to be going at phenomenal speeds, way in excess of the 350 - 400mph they were probably doing
One of a few living 8th Air Force B-17 pilots
I had the privilege of meeting a WWII B-17 pilot yesterday who flew missions over Germany. Dick Nelms is 101 years old. Friendly, humble and lively. Same age as my father would have been. As I shook his hand, thanking him for what he did, I asked him how he was able to fly mission after mission, knowing what the last ones were like. He smiled and said, each one was like the other and he just kept going. Greatest generation? I truly believe it.
Finished the series & found it a little underwhelming. The end seemed rushed & almost like they were just ticking off a checklist of "Things you must feature in a WWII series".
I don't doubt the events, but the priorities seemed odd. The Spy, Tuskegee Airmen, the Eastern front, all just seemed rushed & underdone IMHO. Still, I'm glad the story got told.
I don't doubt the events, but the priorities seemed odd. The Spy, Tuskegee Airmen, the Eastern front, all just seemed rushed & underdone IMHO. Still, I'm glad the story got told.
I was hoping to be reminded how men in their teens and twenties courageously accomplished such a frightful task. Men like like you and me, not John Wayne or Gregory Peck or Tom Cruise.
As with reading the book, I was moved, my gratitude was renewed. So my humble expectations were met, and my hat is off to those who produced and acted in Masters of the Air.
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Hilarious reading here.
its a movie/series not a documentary!!
Who cares if they don’t wear masks at 18000 feet or the P51s had red tails?
Do you criticise the technique of the staff in BBCs Casualty? Or the authenticity of the Expendables? If you do, get a life.
It’s entertainment pure and simple. The audience DONT CARE if the aircraft have the wrong markings……
its a movie/series not a documentary!!
Who cares if they don’t wear masks at 18000 feet or the P51s had red tails?
Do you criticise the technique of the staff in BBCs Casualty? Or the authenticity of the Expendables? If you do, get a life.
It’s entertainment pure and simple. The audience DONT CARE if the aircraft have the wrong markings……
The following users liked this post:
The problem with a series like `Masters if the Air` (and I have yet to see it so speaking in general terms) is that aerial warfare is relatively mundane and boring.
A ground campaign can focus on the soldiers, the combat becomes exciting but secondary. An aerial campaign is pretty much fly to target, bomb it, live or die, come home, rinse repeat.
A good example of this is `12 O'clock High` which is very clever to focus on the crews, on the people and the flying becomes secondary.
An aerial war film, series that focusses on the air war is doomed to fail.
A ground campaign can focus on the soldiers, the combat becomes exciting but secondary. An aerial campaign is pretty much fly to target, bomb it, live or die, come home, rinse repeat.
A good example of this is `12 O'clock High` which is very clever to focus on the crews, on the people and the flying becomes secondary.
An aerial war film, series that focusses on the air war is doomed to fail.
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What I found, was unlike Band of Brothers that followed easy company this had no continuity, Band of Brothers followed one unit and stuck with them, this didn’t, it chopped and changed all over the place without seeming to tie it all together in a coherent manner.
Bar that I did enjoy it, though it built up slowly then as said towards the end appeared to fly through the script ( pun intended ) leaving the story feeling unfinished.
..
Bar that I did enjoy it, though it built up slowly then as said towards the end appeared to fly through the script ( pun intended ) leaving the story feeling unfinished.
..
Last edited by NutLoose; 18th Mar 2024 at 13:53.
The end seemed rushed
aerial warfare is relatively mundane and boring
Tabs please !
American Top Gun fighter pilot academy set up by British (telegraph.co.uk)
What I found, was unlike Band of Brothers that followed easy company this had no continuity, Band of Brothers followed one unit and stuck with them, this didn’t, it chopped and changed all over the place without seeming to tie it all together in a coherent manner.
Bar that I did enjoy it, though it built up slowly then as said towards the end appeared to fly through the script ( pun intended ) leaving the story feeling unfinished.
..
Bar that I did enjoy it, though it built up slowly then as said towards the end appeared to fly through the script ( pun intended ) leaving the story feeling unfinished.
..
I'd say the main issue with following one unit in this case was that one unit was effectively wiped out multiple times. To be fair, "The Pacific" had a similar feeling - even though the central character was largely the same the other characters rotated quickly making it hard to get the same feel as BoB. That, again, was iirc largely to do with the casualty rate.
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It certainly seems that way....
American Top Gun fighter pilot academy set up by British (telegraph.co.uk)
American Top Gun fighter pilot academy set up by British (telegraph.co.uk)
Accuracy and the DT are strangers to each other.
I have just finished watching the series and I haven’t changed my view on it. A ripping yarn about an American unit fighting in Europe. There is no point in getting sniffy about how the RAF was portrayed or how it was ignored in later episodes. Well done. I still think that Band of Brothers was a better show but I may go back now and binge this latest series to get a better idea of the show’s flow. And I'm looking forward to re-reading Mr Miller's book.
I am curious though; B-17Fs depicted throughput the series. Did 100BG not convert to G models?