How much truth is in Masters of the Air?
“Some spectators will surely have doubts. But no, everything is true…” The creator tells us the whole truth…
Yes, Major Gale Cleven (played by Austin Butler), Major John Egan (played by Callum Turner) or Major Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle) existed. As for Band of Brothers And The Pacific, Master of the Air is based on the story of real aviators, the real pilots, navigators or bombers of the “Bloody Hundredth”. “I can’t wait for people to see the story of the 100th Squadron. She is what she is. People will like it or not like it, but that’s how it happened.“
John Orloffcreator and main screenwriter of the series, worked for 10 years on the project, immersing himself body and soul in this “Hundredth”, after Tom Hanks called him to ask: “When Tom Hanks calls you, you say yes!” he smiles in Première. “With Steven (Spielberg), they had already acquired the rights to the book The Airbenders (by Donald L. Miller) and they were wondering how to transpose it into a TV series. Because the book talks about the entire 8th Air Force and not just a group. So my mission was to find the story in this book, which deserved to be highlighted. We chose to focus on one battalion, the 100th Bomb Group which we nickname the “Bloody Hundredth”.”
It is therefore their story that is told Masters of the Air. That of these young Americans who found themselves stationed in Great Britain, when America became involved in the Second World War. For the sake of absolute truth, John Orloff spent an entire year going through the archives, meeting the real soldiers of the time, in order to write his own bible on the subject. So everything is true in Masters of the Air ?
“Of course there are fictionalized parts,” admits Orloff to Première. “There is sometimes the need to write fiction because we don’t have the material, because people don’t always want to tell stories and delve into the past… This happened to me for Band of Brother , with the episode in the concentration camps. Here too, in Masters of the Air, we clung to reality as much as possible. But we were also forced to condense time sometimes, to shorten certain events to get to the goal more quickly. On the other hand, we didn’t crash someone who wasn’t dead! We didn’t invent romances or friendships either. All relationships are true. Majors Cleven and Egan (Austin Butler and Callum Turner) actually signed up together in 1940, because they wanted to fly planes! It was the only way at the time. So these two friends who joined the army together then found themselves in the same group! In the same bunk beds! And with the same rank! We didn’t need to invent anything. The series also shows, at one point, that Major Cleven found an old high school friend by the greatest chance. And that’s true too! Everything that happens to them in the series really happened to them. Some spectators will surely have doubts. But no, it’s all true…”
Masters of the Air therefore takes the time to recount their courage and their sacrifice, from a very human point of view. Without outdated heroism. Because these young aviators knew, when they took off, that they had little chance of returning.
“The fatality rate was 74% deaths. 74% of the men who flew B-17s in WWII didn’t survive. It’s crazy and guys, there, back then , knew it before they got on those planes. And they went there anyway.”
Masters of the Air is currently available on Apple TV+ and also on Canal+ in France.
