• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

West Haven Voice

West Haven’s only independent news source - By and For West Haven

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Archive
  • Advertise With Us!
  • Classified
  • Announcements
  • Contact Us
  • Web Exclusive
    • Kids Activity Pages

‘Master of the Air’ great!

February 8, 2024 By whvoice

By Rich Lowry

Syndicated Columnist

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have once again done a public service.

Like “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific” before it, the new series “Masters of the Air” is a profound act of devotion to the memory of the men who won World War II, this time focused on the air war in Europe.

Telling the story of a nation’s history will always depend on popularizers more than academic historians (especially when the latter don’t like their country’s history very much), and Spielberg and Hanks are better popularizers than anyone has cause to expect.

“Masters” tells the story of the 100th Bomber Group of the 8th Air Force, known as the “Bloody 100th,” not for the destruction it wrought, but the punishment it took in some of the most hazardous duty of the war.

No one has ever reproduced the story, the 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 in the making with a $250 million budget, this is a production at the very highest level of technical proficiency. The B-17s — the long-range bombers known as Flying Fortresses, or “Forts” for short — steal the show. They are lovingly reproduced and often look like something out of a painting.

Which doesn’t obscure their deadly purpose or the deadly business of flying one over hostile territory.

If nothing else, “Masters” 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 much faster German fighters.

It is as terrifying as it sounds.

Relying on Air Force records, the show’s makers have obsessively reproduced the exact position of each plane and its precise fate during missions. As the screenwriter John Orloff has explained, they felt a factual rendering was mandatory; this wasn’t “Star Wars” — a made-up conflict involving fictional people — but real battles in which Americans gave their last full measure of devotion.

Orloff notes that about three months after its arrival in England, 34 of the 100th’s 36 crews had been shot down. The tour of duty was 25 missions, but the aviators made it through just 11 on average.

In contrast to the British who bombed at night, the U.S. engaged in daylight bombing that was supposed to be precision in nature. Without protection from fighter planes, which wasn’t available at the beginning, this made the B-17s sitting ducks. Sometimes the missions involved hitting industrial sites, sometimes they targeted cities themselves 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 balance of the air war shifted decisively in 1944.

There’s been a long-running debate about the morality and efficacy of the Allied bombing campaign. There’s no doubt that there was a real moral cost to the campaign and its wanton destruction. Unfortunately, though, there was no easy way to take down a totalitarian power 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 Nazi resources to air defense. But it achieved more than that.

“By 1945,” military historian Cathal Nolan writes, “the bombers would destroy Germany’s transportation systems and demolish most vital war industries, especially oil supply and refining, and effectively end fighter production.”

He continues, “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.”

Young American men gave their all in harrowing conditions to make this contribution to victory. “Masters” is their story as it deserves to be told.

Rich Lowry is editor of the National Review.

(c) 2024 by King Features Synd., Inc.

Filed Under: 020824, Lowry, Opinion

Primary Sidebar

Seach our site

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

The week in photos ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

The week in photos – May 8, 2025

westhavenvoice.com

The week in photos – May 8, 2025 May 8, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Washington School set to open With the opening set for May 22, Gilbane Construction crews are placing fixtures and other equip...
17 hours ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

New Briefs - tax relief program, dog license info, Westies Care, and more.. ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

News Briefs

westhavenvoice.com

News Briefs May 8, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Tax relief applications accepted The assessor’s office is accepting applications by appointment for tax relief programs for elderly and disabled ho...
18 hours ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Boardwalk facility named for Joe Carr ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Boardwalk facility named for Joe Carr

westhavenvoice.com

Boardwalk facility named for Joe Carr May 8, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Family members of the late Department of Public Works laborer and driver Joe Carr pause beneath the sign that the city dedi...
19 hours ago
View Comments
  • likes Like love 3
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Grant aids VA neighborhood upgrades ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Grant aids VA neighborhood upgrades

westhavenvoice.com

Grant aids VA neighborhood upgrades May 7, 2025 By whvoice Leave a Comment Mayor Dorinda Borer speaks during a news conference with Gov. Ned Lamont, second from right, at City Hall on Monday announcin...
21 hours ago
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

 

 

West Haven’s Calendar

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Thursday Night Live (This one's on Friday!!!)

tockify.com

Fri 23 Jun, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM [EDT]: Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT Old Grove Park Public · Anyone on or off Facebook West Haven summer concerts are back! Join us in West Haven thi...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Mark Your West Haven Calendar

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/442/1686776400000

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum

tockify.com

Wed 14 Jun, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM [EDT]: Business After Hours West Haven Veterans Museum West Haven Veterans Museum & Learning Center Event by Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce, CT West Haven Veterans ...
View Comments
  • likes Like 0
  • Comments: 0
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

West Haven Calendar
2 years ago
West Haven Calendar

Added for June 10th & 11th

tockify.com/west.haven.calendar/detail/443/1686405600000

West Haven Historical Society Open House
... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

West Haven Historical Society Open House

tockify.com

Sat 10 Jun, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM [EDT]:
View Comments
  • likes Like 2
  • Comments: 1
  • Shares: 0
Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

1 CommentsComment on Facebook

Load more

Footer

Address

West Haven Voice
840 Boston Post Road
West Haven, CT

 

Contact us

Call (203) 934-6397

Contact form

SITE NAVIGATION

HOME
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
ADVERTISE!
CLASSIFIED
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONTACT US
WEB EXCLUSIVE

FIND US IN PRINT

Our print edition is available each Thursday. Here is a list of locations!

Letters Policy

Information on submitting letters to us.

Our submission deadlines.

Copyright © 2025 West Haven Voice, LLC