It has an illustrious war record. The American 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy) earned the nickname ‘the Bloody Hundredth’ due to the severe casualties it suffered while bombing Nazi Germany. Based at RAF Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk, England, the Group flew over 300 combat missions and earned two Distinguished Unit Citations during World War II but suffered 732 lost airmen and 177 aircraft missing in action.
This January, Apple honors the heroism of the Bloody Hundredth with a nine-part Apple TV Plus miniseries based on their wartime actions. Masters of the Air, based on the 2007 book of the same title, has Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman as executive producers, making it the spiritual successor to the trio’s other works, Band of Brothers and The Pacific. This means the new Apple series has a lot to live up to, but its budget of over $200 million and talented cast list, which includes Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, and Nate Mann, suggests it will do just that. Look out for Sex Education and Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa, too. The first of nine episodes premieres on 26th January, with a new one appearing every Friday after that.
