If you love Masters of the Air, you need to watch this Apple TV+ documentary

Love Masters of the Air? Watch this documentary

By Joe Allen March 10, 2024

Austin Butler and Callum Turner in Masters of the Air. — Apple TV Plus

Much like the other World War II miniseries that Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have produced, Masters of the Air tells the true story of the 100th bomb group, who served in the Air Force during World War II. The series is set to debut its finale on Apple TV Plus on March 15, and now, we’ve learned that it will be accompanied by a documentary that tells the true story of the soldiers who are so central to the show.

The documentary, which is called The Bloody Hundredth, was produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and will be narrated by Tom Hanks.

“Directed by Mark Herzog and long-time Spielberg collaborator Laurent Bouzereau, the hour-long documentary spotlights the true stories of several characters and real-life airmen featured in “Masters of the Air” including John Egan (played by Callum Turner), Gale Cleven (played by Austin Butler), Harry Crosby (played by Anthony Boyle), Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal (played by Nate Mann), Frank Murphy (played by Jonas Moore), Alexander Jefferson (played by Brandon Cook), Richard Macon (played by Josiah Cross), as well as veterans John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Robert Wolf, and many others. From the shock of Pearl Harbor to the joy of VE Day, “The Bloody Hundredth” is a record of what was endured and achieved by a group of young Americans when their country and the world needed them most.”

The documentary is produced by Spielberg, Hanks and Gary Goetzman, and will likely be the perfect complement to Masters of the Air as the show wraps its run.

Masters of the Air — Official Trailer | Apple TV+

Masters of the Air is a companion to Hanks and Spielberg’s other WWII miniseries

Masters of the Air has a lengthy lineage for both Hanks and Spielberg, who were also behind 2001’s Band of Brothers and 2010’s The Pacific, both of which were made for HBO. Masters of the Air feels like the third in that trilogy of true stories about soldiers during World War II. The series is based on the book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany by Donald L. Miller, which tells the story of the Eighth Air Force of the United States Army.

Much like the previous two shows, Masters of the Air also features an array of young talent in front of the camera, including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, Josiah Cross, and Ncuti Gatwa.

Like the two previous miniseries, Masters of the Air is designed to be a one-season affair that tells the comprehensive story of the men at its center. This was the first time that Spielberg, Hanks, and Goetzman collaborated with Apple TV Plus on one of these shows, but based on the show’s reception, the effort seems like a tremendous success.

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Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…

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