Masters Of The Air: Part Three - E03 - RECAP

Masters of The Air is a series that just keeps delivering, yesterday I made my post on episode two since I'm a little behind on my recaps although today Friday I'm about to watch episode five and from there keep up with the other four episodes every Friday, probably posting number four and five over the weekend depending on my schedule. Until I have been asking for a BIG AIR BATTLE and that exactly what episode three is, everything happens in the air but then we get in to my second ask for this series, WHEN AIR FIGHTER 1v1, for now all we see from Allies in this case US Air Force is bomber but I would love to see them bring in their fighter planes for a good air battle defending the bombers from German fighters, so far this is the best episode I have seen on the series, there is a lot of action, lots of casualties as you can see on the picture that I choose for the cover of this post, the episode is loaded, toward the end the story shift gears getting more into the drama, the aftermath after such big fight, not everyone will make it home alive and others drop on their way back, side stories from pilots and their crew will start to develop, after bombing the German factories they were deep into Enemy Territory and had to land in Africa, way way far from their base.

Col. Hardling is in charge, just in time to be part of the biggest "air armada ever assembled in history" the target is to attack the German Ball Bearing factories crippling their tanks and other units productions, this is a very precise attack that needs to happen in a certain way and time, timing is the most important part, they know German Fighters burn fuel way faster and carry less fuel than bombers so they cant stay in the air longer enough to put them down if their numbers are massive and capable of defending, for the pilots there is a big distance challenge after hitting the target they cant go back so they will have to make it all the way to Africa, Argelia.

Every pilot at the base knows this is going to be a big fight that none of them want to miss, there is a delay because of fog and other task forces are delay, the waiting is killing them while others just chill waiting for order, there are also a couple of Majors and other high rank officers in the force flying, Col. Hardling thinks he needs the best man up in the air to make this a win.

Not every crew member knows the importance of sticking to the plan, some are desperate to get up in the air but others like Navigator Lt. Crosby, who narrates the most part of the story; understands the importance of sticking together, if this doesn't happen then their plan is shit, unfortunately seems that higher ranks also got desperate and gave the order for all bombers be in the air, Hardling knows this is a terrible idea but orders are orders, in the army you follow orders.

Following the orders means sending the boys straight to HELL!! All pilots and crew get ready, seen all the bombers flying together leaving their trail behind in the air is beautiful, must be a great experience watching so many bombers in the air ready to fight. After been some time in air and getting into Flak territory the obvious is out of the windows, where are the other task forces?

Frank, Buck, Bucky and Curt know they are on themself and some how will have to survive, this is where the big air battle I mention starts, I don't want to describe it much but damn that's a lot of dopamine, they manage to hit the target but not with the amount of impact they wanted to, also they loose a lot of men during this mission, this will probably be the mission where they had the most looses.

After hitting their target they still have a very very long distances to cover, going through the Italian Alps, then through the Mediterranean Sea so they could make it to Africa. Bombers were heavily damage, low on fuel, missing crew members, others badly hurt but they had to survive some how. Buck had to start dumping every extra weight that was not necessary for the plain to stay in the air, they dump from guns, dome, ammo, on top the bomber was hurt badly to the point that part of the crew though they had to jump ship but the Cap. was Major Cleven and the order was to stay put and get your shit together.

Frank,Buck and Bucky finally land in Africa but not all bombers had the same luck, around only 9 out of 23 landed, others had to jump of their plain, those who survive are all scattered around in Europe that is heavily invaded by German Army, this crew members are on their own and have to find their we back home but in the meantime survive, no food, no friends, most don't even talk other languages, they are in Europe, French, Italian, German, everything except English.

This was the most exciting episode so far, I don't expect all episodes to be like this but there still seven more so at least one or two other big air battles on the way to the end, drama kicks in now that crew members need to find their way back home, Buck and Bucky remain together but I'm sure they will also go down at some point, hope they survive but every single mission had very high changes that men wont come back, specially when dumb orders are giving like sending all those bombers alone, such a small number into deep enemy territory, episode a solid 8.5/10.