In honor of ‘Masters of the Air’: A look back at classic WWII movies

Susan King
·4 min read

Those who fought in World War II are considered the Greatest Generation. And executive producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman paid homage to these young men who risked life and limb during the global conflict in their award-winning 2001 HBO series “Band of Brothers” and 2010’s “The Pacific.” And now they’ve taken to the not-so-friendly skies in their latest World War II series, Apple TV +’s “Masters of the Air.”

Created by John Shiban and John Orloff, “Masters of the Air” is based on the 2007 book: “Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the War Against Nazi Germany,” the series starring Austin Butler focuses on the 8th Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group stationed in England. It was known as the “Bloody Hundredth” because of the high causalty rate.

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Watching the series, one can’t help but remember the numerous bombardier films produced by Hollywood during World War II such as 1943’s “Air Force,” directed by the estimable Howard Hawks and featuring a strong ensemble cast lead by John Garfield, John Ridgely, Arthur Kennedy and Gig Young. This film was conceived by the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces and initially was planned to open on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The war drama was based on an incident that infamous day involving an aircrew ferrying an unarmed heavy bomber named Mary-Ann to Hickam Field on Dec. 7, 1941 only to be caught in the middle of the invasion.

William Faulkner was brought in to write two scenes including the heartbreaking death of the captain of the Mary-Ann. And the real Mary-Ann was lost in the Pacific shortly after production wrapped on “Air Force.”  The film, which wasn’t released until March 1943 received four Oscar nominations including screenplay and cinematography — James Wong Howe was one of three DP’s — winning for editing. As with all these war films produced during the global conflict, “Air Force” is propaganda and the language used to describe the enemies would not be allowed today.

In 1944, the Hollywood Reporter declared “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo” as “one of the greatest war films ever made.” The gripping MGM production focuses on 1942’s “Doolittle Raid,” the first retaliatory bombing of Tokyo which took place four months after Pearl Harbor. Dalton Trumbo, who would become one of the Hollywood Ten, penned the screenplay based on the 1943 book of the same name, and the film was directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The cast included some of the studio’s best young talent such as Van Johnson and Robert Walker; Spencer Tracy was on hand as Brigadier General Jimmy Doolittle. The film earned two Oscar nominations winning for best effects, special effects.

Flyboys didn’t just risk death in the air, they also faced numerous perils on the ground if they ended up caught behind enemy lines. (One of the flyboys in the third episode of “Masters of the Air” finds himself in Nazi occupied France). Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan found themselves attempting to escape Nazi Germany in 1942’s “Desperate Journey.”

And 1944’s “The Purple Heart” is loosely based on a Japanese trial of eight survivors of the Doolittle Raid. Lewis Milestone, who earned an Oscar for the 1930 anti-war “All Quiet on the Western Front,” directed. Audiences were so moved by the film; they bought thousands of dollars of war bonds.

Randolph Scott, Pat O’Brien, Anne Shirley and Eddie Albert starred in 1943’s “Bombardier,” a war drama that examines the bombardier program. The film even opens with a lengthy introduction from Brigadier General Eugene L. Eubank, the commander of the heavy bombardment group of the U.S. Army Air Forces: “I want you to know about a new kind of American soldier, the most important of all our fighting men today. He is most important because upon him, finally, depends on the success of any mission in which he participates. The greatest bombing plane in the world, with its combat crew, takes him into battle, through weather, through enemy opposition, just so he may have 30 seconds over the target.”

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