“Historian and World War II expert Donald Miller brings us the story of the bomber boys who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep,” reads the official blurb. “Unlike ground soldiers they slept on clean beds, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of the travelling Air Force bands. But they were also an elite group of fighters who put their lives on the line in the most dangerous role of all.”
So it’ll be largely set in England, between the pastoral landing strips, barracks and country taverns. This was corroborated by some set photos shared by the Daily Mail, which show a stretch of land in Buckinghamshire turned into a $6 million WWII-style U.S. airbase. But more on that below…
Who is in the cast for Masters of the Air?
“Who isn’t in Masters of the Air?” is probably a better question. Much like Band of Brothers, which bolstered the careers of then-up-and-comers like Damian Lewis, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy and James McAvoy, this thing is stacked with young talent.
Butler heads up the cast as Major Gale Cleven, one of the real-world subjects in Masters of the Air, whose life in the Air Force is summarized on the American Air Museum’s website. By 1943, Cleven was stationed at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, carrying out bombing raids on the likes of Bremen and other targets in mainland Germany.
He was later shot down west of Osnabruck, where he was captured by the Luftwaffe and sent to Stalag Luft III, a German P.O.W. camp in what is now western Poland, where he endured terrible conditions as the war trundled to a close.
Elsewhere in the hot young crew, we’ll see Banshees of Insherin‘s Barry Keoghan in one of the 356 roles he’s got coming up that includes the Gladiator sequel and a double-hander with Jacob Elordi in Saltburn. There’s also Callum Turner, best known for his role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Raff Law (very much the son of Jude) in a first major role, Anthony Boyle, who originated the role of Draco Malfoy in the stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, soon to be Doctor Who and Barbie star Ncuti Gatwa, Nate Mann, Ben Radcliffe, and one Sawyer Avery Spielberg (we’ll let you work that one out yourselves).
Where was Masters of the Air filmed?
Back in 2021, it was revealed that the show is shooting — at least partially — on a full-scale U.S. Air Force base constructed for the show in the rolling hills of Buckinghamshire. According to the Mail, the huge production space used to be the site of a disused university and hotel.
Jack King
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