With a staggering loss rate of 77%, “The Bloody 100th” Bomb Group required 25 missions from its crewmen before they could return home from the horrors of World War II. That meant every time they got in a plane, they knew that in the next few hours they’d probably die a violent death. “It’s an insane statistic,” says Callum Turner about the number of men sacrificed.
He plays Maj. John “Bucky” Egan in Apple TV+’s “Masters of the Air,” an epic nine-part limited series about the 100th. “The journey they had to go through for the greater good, putting them in the most vulnerable atmosphere ever known to mankind,” he says, noting that the skin on the B-17 bomber was about as thick as a Coke can.
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, the $250-million series is based on the book by historian Donald L. Miller. Along with “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” it forms a glossy trilogy of U.
S. military might during World War II. Anchoring a cast of hundreds are Turner and Austin Butler as Gale “Buck” Cleven, both characters based on real-life fliers.
Television The latest World War II drama from Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman on Apple TV+ focuses on the European air war and serves as a companion to “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.” Jan. 25, 2024 “They were high-flying Hollywood types, the best pilots,” Turner says of their characters.
“They joined up before Pearl Harbor. If a plane went.
