Masters of the Air‘s historical authenticity is the focus of a new behind-the-scenes featurette, which shows how B-17 flying scenes were pulled off. Executive produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the duo behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Masters of the Air chronicles the daring exploits of the 100th Bomb Group during World War II. The series, which stars Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Anthony Boyle, follows a select group of airmen on the ground and in the air, with plenty of time spent in the belly of a B-17 Flying Fortress.
Following the release of Masters of the Air episode 3, Apple TV releases a behind-the-scenes look at how aspects of the series came together, including the building of two full-scale B-17 replicas, which took about a year. Check out the video below:
While the B-17 recreations were used for select scenes in the cockpit and on the airport tarmacs, many of the actual flying scenes involved the use of a replica cockpit on a gimbal on the Volume, large walls of adaptive digital screens. The video also breaks down the painstaking work that costume designer Colleen Atwood put in to recreate the pilots’ uniforms, which included the use of era-specific leathers.
Does Masters Of The Air Rely Too Much On CGI?
The World War II Series Doesn’t Have A Choice
While the Masters of the Air reviews have been mostly positive, the show has not quite hit the same critical heights as Band of Brothers or The Pacific. At least some of the criticism has been aimed at the show’s more extensive use of CGI, with its predecessors having been much more reliant on practical effects. The flying scenes, for the most part, look quite good, but there’s no denying that certain moments in the new series just lack the same gritty and tactile feel that its predecessors had.
These CGI criticisms are certainly valid, but Masters of the Air‘s premise essentially means that making a show in the same way that Band of Brothers was made just isn’t possible. Recreating a flying squadron of B-17s as they pass over occupied France isn’t something that can be done practically, especially since real, air-worthy B-17s are now in short supply. The Masters of the Air budget of $250 million for nine episodes is a gargantuan sum, but it’s still just not realistic that the series can be pulled off without extensive CGI.
As the video above can attest to, a big effort was made to ensure that everything the central Masters of the Air cast members interact with outside and inside the B-17, including every dial and lever in the cockpit, is real. Even though exterior shots of planes as they’re flying are often accomplished digitally, the craftsmanship that went into recreating the interior and exterior of a B-17 should still be celebrated, and it speaks to the authentic experience that the filmmakers are attempting to create for the viewers and for the actors.
Masters of the Air
Masters of the Air is an Apple TV+ original war drama starring Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, and Barry Keoghan. The series follows a group of eleven World War II pilots who fight German fighters in a bomber called “The Flying Fortress.” The miniseries was created by John Shiban and John Orloff and based on the book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller.
- Release Date
- January 26, 2024
- Cast
- Austin Butler , Callum Turner , Barry Keoghan , Nikolai Kinski , Stephen Campbell Moore , Sawyer Spielberg , Isabel May , Anthony Boyle
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator(s)
- John Shiban , John Orloff
- Writers
- John Shiban , John Orloff
- Directors
- Cary Joji Fukunaga , Dee Rees , Anna Boden , Ryan Fleck , Timothy Van Patten
- Where To Watch
- Apple TV+
