I haven't seen it yet, but I've been fascinated by WWII aviation ever since I was a kid, back in the 1950's and 60's, so I'll certainly give it a look. My father volunteered for the British forces in 1942, and they wanted to put him as tail gunner in a Lancaster (a very dangerous and often brief occupation). He didn't like that idea one bit and refused, which he had a right to do, being a volunteer. Instead, he ended up driving a tank, and went ashore on Day 6 at Normandy. Due to his wartime experiences, I always had a big interest in that historical period. The B-17's were tough planes, and as you say...not very maneuverable, so their best protection was to keep in tight formation where they could mass all their defensive firepower. A straggler or a badly damaged plane that got separated from its formation was generally doomed, as the German fighters would pounce on it and finish it off as quickly as possible...and they had plenty of firepower to do that. A deadly business for the young men on both sides, that is for sure.
Thanks for your story!!! Your dad is a great man! Definitely recommend watching for any WW2 air fans, since I feel like it’s hard to find that in film and tv
An Uncle of mine was a RAF pilot in the later part of the war. He was undoubtably shot at by Flak and Night fighters, freezing cold, and deafened by the sound of four engines. He suffered permanent hearing damage. He survived the war but sadly died after a motorcycle accident in 1951
Nice editing on your video however the jazz playing in the background was a bit distracting. The B-17 strategy displayed; good, the Norden bombsight; good, the aerial sequences; good, the acting of the main characters; very sketchy, for lesser characters ie. Crosby quite good. Luftwaffe tactics shown aren’t depicted as accurate according to most sources I have read; frontal attacks would take a lot of time to set up correctly especially cause the bombers would change course so often, attacks from 6 o’clock high using the 21cm rockets to break the formations were the main tactic then a schwarm (4 aircraft) would attack stragglers to finish them off. Of course frontal attacks happened but I would imagine they were less frequent than portrayed here. Overall for me so far a 6/10; higher marks on air combat, low marks on acting, screenplay and character development.
Yeah, guessing you are from the video game generations. Not a criticism but what you describe as "visually appealing" is what seems to be the problem so far. Way too polished and smooth versus the type of effects with BOB, and the Pacific. Looks to me like a lot of shots of the bombers were "copy and paste". They all move the same, same perspective, and they move in unison. I'm fearing they kinda mailed this one in. The book is tremendous and imho they would have better served taking more of a documentary perspective although the characters are real.
I definitely agree it’s no band of brothers or pacific, but there have been only 2 episodes so it’s hard to compare. I’m trying to look at show without factoring in those other 2 because it’s going to be incredibly hard to live up. I will say for Masters of the Air they can’t rely on practical effects as much like BOB or pacific could since those were all ground troop stories, this one they have to heavily rely on a lot of CGI and the CGI I saw was never jarring or bad in my opinion but I’m no expert haha
Calling a Messerschmitt 109 to a focke-Wulf 190, and there’s the calling a Messerschmitt 110 a Junkers-88. Looks like Spielbergs lack of historical knowledge about aircraft is still around today
@@williamsnell2078 While I agree that the ju88/bf110 misidentification was jarring, it's important to look at the air battle with the 109s/190s with some context. Particularly for gunners and crewmen, they were calling out german fighters with closing speeds of 600-700mph looking through a turret or waist window in the side of the aircraft. They would probably only see a flash of it for a couple seconds, so it makes sense that they could misidentify them in the heat of battle. Written evidence of this was quite common in after action reports in real life. After all, what mattered more was that they were German and they were shooting at you. As for the graphics, I don't have much to say. As a nerd for this kind of thing I can definitely agree I was screaming "thats a 109!!" at the tv a couple times but overall I found the show entertaining and a refreshing portrayal of ww2 air combat in comparison to other big time movies/shows like Red Tails.
@@williamsnell2078 l have always found Spielberg very biased when it comes to WW2...He always plays up the American involvement whilst diminishing all other countries who fought in WW2... seems to have particular problem with UKs involvement...
I haven't seen it yet, but I've been fascinated by WWII aviation ever since I was a kid, back in the 1950's and 60's, so I'll certainly give it a look. My father volunteered for the British forces in 1942, and they wanted to put him as tail gunner in a Lancaster (a very dangerous and often brief occupation). He didn't like that idea one bit and refused, which he had a right to do, being a volunteer. Instead, he ended up driving a tank, and went ashore on Day 6 at Normandy. Due to his wartime experiences, I always had a big interest in that historical period. The B-17's were tough planes, and as you say...not very maneuverable, so their best protection was to keep in tight formation where they could mass all their defensive firepower. A straggler or a badly damaged plane that got separated from its formation was generally doomed, as the German fighters would pounce on it and finish it off as quickly as possible...and they had plenty of firepower to do that. A deadly business for the young men on both sides, that is for sure.
Thanks for your story!!! Your dad is a great man! Definitely recommend watching for any WW2 air fans, since I feel like it’s hard to find that in film and tv
An Uncle of mine was a RAF pilot in the later part of the war. He was undoubtably shot at by Flak and Night fighters, freezing cold, and deafened by the sound of four engines. He suffered permanent hearing damage. He survived the war but sadly died after a motorcycle accident in 1951
@@brianperry - My father suffered permanent hearing damage too, from the engine noise in the tank he drove. War is a miserable business.
So it was very cold up there and that mase it tight, good to know👍
Nice editing on your video however the jazz playing in the background was a bit distracting. The B-17 strategy displayed; good, the Norden bombsight; good, the aerial sequences; good, the acting of the main characters; very sketchy, for lesser characters ie. Crosby quite good. Luftwaffe tactics shown aren’t depicted as accurate according to most sources I have read; frontal attacks would take a lot of time to set up correctly especially cause the bombers would change course so often, attacks from 6 o’clock high using the 21cm rockets to break the formations were the main tactic then a schwarm (4 aircraft) would attack stragglers to finish them off. Of course frontal attacks happened but I would imagine they were less frequent than portrayed here. Overall for me so far a 6/10; higher marks on air combat, low marks on acting, screenplay and character development.
Good read! Episode three did a better job of showcasing rocket attacks by Luftwaffe and picking on stragglers
Hmmm. Guess ill have to take a look at this one.
Yeah, guessing you are from the video game generations. Not a criticism but what you describe as "visually appealing" is what seems to be the problem so far. Way too polished and smooth versus the type of effects with BOB, and the Pacific. Looks to me like a lot of shots of the bombers were "copy and paste". They all move the same, same perspective, and they move in unison. I'm fearing they kinda mailed this one in. The book is tremendous and imho they would have better served taking more of a documentary perspective although the characters are real.
I definitely agree it’s no band of brothers or pacific, but there have been only 2 episodes so it’s hard to compare. I’m trying to look at show without factoring in those other 2 because it’s going to be incredibly hard to live up. I will say for Masters of the Air they can’t rely on practical effects as much like BOB or pacific could since those were all ground troop stories, this one they have to heavily rely on a lot of CGI and the CGI I saw was never jarring or bad in my opinion but I’m no expert haha
Strong start? You have to be kidding, just one long cliche after another with video game quality graphics. Unwatchable compared to Band of Brothers.
Fair enough haha maybe I’m desperate for historical content but I liked it!
Calling a Messerschmitt 109 to a focke-Wulf 190, and there’s the calling a Messerschmitt 110 a Junkers-88. Looks like Spielbergs lack of historical knowledge about aircraft is still around today
@@williamsnell2078 Yes it's all bad unfortunately. Right down to the cliche script, porn quality acting and pretty boy hero.
@@williamsnell2078 While I agree that the ju88/bf110 misidentification was jarring, it's important to look at the air battle with the 109s/190s with some context. Particularly for gunners and crewmen, they were calling out german fighters with closing speeds of 600-700mph looking through a turret or waist window in the side of the aircraft. They would probably only see a flash of it for a couple seconds, so it makes sense that they could misidentify them in the heat of battle. Written evidence of this was quite common in after action reports in real life. After all, what mattered more was that they were German and they were shooting at you. As for the graphics, I don't have much to say. As a nerd for this kind of thing I can definitely agree I was screaming "thats a 109!!" at the tv a couple times but overall I found the show entertaining and a refreshing portrayal of ww2 air combat in comparison to other big time movies/shows like Red Tails.
@@williamsnell2078 l have always found Spielberg very biased when it comes to WW2...He always plays up the American involvement whilst diminishing all other countries who fought in WW2... seems to have particular problem with UKs involvement...