So, when the 100th embarked on their first combat mission over Bremen, Germany, it turned out to be a harrowing and sobering experience. The crew was also relatively undisciplined-and they rotated through various commanding officers in 1943. There was a bar called the Silver Wings, where officers and pilots drank, gambled, fought, and eased the trauma caused by the war. Unlike the ground troops in Band of Brothers, the 100th's members were mostly living it up at an airbase in London, England following their initial training. The 100th's First Combat Mission Was Sobering If you're unfamiliar with the real-life tale and want to learn about the 100th as the series progresses, bookmark this page to read after the series finale.Ĭleven (Butler) and Egan (Turner), the two star pilots in the early days of the 100th. Though be warned! The rest of this story will contain historical spoilers beyond the current episode in the series. Naturally, their journey was a perfect fit for the big-budget treatment in Masters of the Air. As Major Crosby (Anthony Boyle) later wrote in his memoir, Egan and Cleven were, "dashing, undisciplined, superb pilots, exactly what Hollywood expected them to be." The two men were larger-than-life heroes, idolized by a group that included Lieutenant Curtis Biddick ( Barry Keoghan), Sergeant William Quinn (Kai Alexander), and Captain Bernard DeMarco (Adam Long). Led by star pilots John "Bucky" Egan (Callum Turner) and Gale "Buck" Cleven ( Austin Butler), the 100th were considered the heart and soul of the Eighth Air Force. Unlike the on-the-ground action of Easy Company, however, the 100th's losses tell a very different story about the war. More than their peers, they were often chosen to go on dangerous missions with little hope of survival. Much like Band of Brothers' s Easy Company, the 100th's members were forced to brave the war together as a group in order to survive. Miller’s Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany and Major Harry H. It's the latest World War II-centric project from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman, following HBO's Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The group's brave heroics in the face of adversity have been adapted for the small screen in Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air, which is now almost halfway through its planned ten-episode miniseries.
As one airman reportedly told a companion with tears running down his face, "I’m not going to make it… they just put me in the 100th Group. Nicknamed the "Bloody 100th," their reputation as a jinxed unit made the group famous-especially since their positioning in the squadron was very often open to increased enemy fire. The United States trained thousands of pilots throughout World War II, but few groups suffered heavier losses than the Eighth Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group.