After watching ‘Masters of the Air’ from the climatic events of ‘The Bloody Hundredth’, seeing the ET of the series seems pretty appealing. Of course, it is not the only one of its kind. In multiple films addressing the topic, such as Band of Brothers, we instantly recognize the unique voice of Tom Hanks the narrator, and many other students of the air war: some incredible aircraft-men who was in “Masters of the Air”. Documentaries of the previous era had several flaws, including awful production. Well, some of the restorations were perfect and some even from that time were quite nice, however those were the past’s standards. In fact, a lot of the reconstructed material was recreated to an acceptable standard for long-term use.
John “Lucky” Lucado still stands out as one of the more fascinating stars of “The Bloody Hundredth” film and continues to do it after carrying out 25 combat missions approximately over half a century ago. Lucado, who currently lives in Dallas, Texas, is somewhat lucky himself looking at the fact that 77 percent of the airmen from the 100th Bomb Group were either killed or captured in action during World War II. Not only it is remarkable that he has reached the age of 102 but his first-hand experience flying the positions of a B-17 bomber pilot on such missions is definitely overwhelming.
The raid on Munster, on Oct. 10, 1943, ended Black Week, the Eighth’s Air Force’s worst three days in the war with the loss of 88 B-17s over Germany. Additionally, as the documentary relates, the Eighth Air Force suffered the most losses than any other branch of the American armed forces. The mission on Munster is what led to the 100th becoming known as “The Bloody Hundredth” because out of 13 planes that went into battle, only one plane, flown by Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal, returned to England.
However, among those included in the film were interviews of Rosenthal, who was seen in “Masters of the Air” and tape recordings done prior to his passing in 2007 at the age of eighty-nine.
Only 25 percent of the bomber crewmen saw through to the end as they having this dangerous job of completing a total of 25 missions. In spite of this, Rosenthal didn’t sit back, rather he even sent a message saying he is now completing his 25th mission, talking in terms of tower buzzing. Apparently General Huglin was in the tower and went prone to avoid the dirtied of his uniform over himself; interesting enough, General was not annoyed at Rosenthal. In fact, he told him that it was one hell of a buzz job Rosie. Such was the dedication of Rosenthal that he volunteered for a further tour of active duty and thus he carried out 52 missions even when he was shot down on two occasions.
By 1943, P 51 Mustang was introduced as a bomber escort and it played a vital role in American gaining Air superiority over Germany. The Mercedes Benz British longitudinal world was able to fight a fast and maneuverable fighter, supporting all distances to the bombers towards the center of Germany. The allies believed that a successful ground offensive in Western Europe on invasion day would mean that the German Luftwaffe must be defeated.
As a result, in 1944, the bombers were as active as ever in carrying out their bombing missions, while American fighters like p51 mustang. Their only avowed intention was to shoot as many German supported fighter planes as they could.
Their ambition was to take down as many German fighters as needed to ensure that the Luftwaffe was unable to provide proper air cover. One shocking number in the film was that the ratio of Luftwaffe pilots’ casualties on the western front from January to May 1944 was a staggering 99 percent.
The time was on June 6, 1944 when the Allies set foot in Normandy, France thus creating a second front in the West against Nazi Germany; the Luftwaffe provided little or no cover. After acquiring air superiority, the Eighth Air Force started to bomb Berlin and other military strongholds deep into Germany with all their force inflicting great damage to the Third Reich. The war continued after D-Day for nearly a further year to Victory in Europe Day which was on May 8, 1945.
As the documentary ends, Mr Tom Hanks makes a point to the audience reminding them that, “World War II was the most destructive episode in human history, it has more loss in terms of human lives than any other fought war.” When the time came to return home after the war English locals turned out in their Sunday attire in order to show their appreciation to all members of the American airmen of the Eighth Army Air Force who were posted in Britain.
The documentary concludes with the poignant remark made by a pilot from the 100th Bomb Group, Frank Murphy: “The freedoms that we enjoy did not come about by accident. I and the generation that went before me, bought and paid for them. For that reason, as far as I’m concerned the generation that saw World War Two should be remembered.”
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