Note: EDDIE WAS RIGHT AND MIKEY WAS WRONG, Masters of the Air not Sky sorry he got too excited for this! Check out our patreon which has full lengths at www.patreon.com/732ReviewCrew including this episode for free!

The gunner did not burn his hands. His hands froze to the metal and he had to rip the skin off his hands to get them free. Most of the pilots in the early episodes were college graduates who learned how to fly in the Air Cadets before the war. The colonel was drinking milk specifically to calm down his stomach problems.

all areal scenes are done in CGI, using "the Volume" and a gimble at 50ft height to add motion. there are only 6 B17 flying in the world so they can't use those, they however build 2 full scale models for the production for some ground stuff

Something ELSE to consider in the CONTEXT of the Three shows, Band of Brothers, the Pacific and Masters of the Air, the Army Air corps had TWICE as many CASUALTIES/DEAD then the Marines did in the Pacific theater!!! And pretty much over the SAME period of time!! Late 1942 to mid 1945!! Combined the Army and the Air Force or Air corps took the MAJORITY of the casualties in World War 2!!😢😢😢 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

Amazing series so far. Ive been waiting for this for years! My mothers Uncle was a Ball Turret Gunner (under the belly of the bomber) in the 381st bomb group 532nd Squad. My mothers uncle went in on a bombing raid March 24th 1944 into Germany and became a POW that day due to having 2 of the 4 engines were knocked out and some of the nose damaged. This damage kept them from keeping up with the rest of the Bombers heading back over to England. So while my mothers uncles B17 pulled out of formation the pilots kept control of the Bombers and limped it across Germany then through France ( which was still being held by the Germans ) but could no longer fly anymore due to the damage sustained. They nursed the bomber as far they could hoping they can get across the channel and back to England ( which some B17’s that were heavily damaged did make it across) but to no avail on this day . So they had to crash land in the French countryside , the French resistance got their before the German Patrols and quickly rounded up whom they could , 4 of the 10 man crew escaped with them and hid for months , the other 5 were captured eventually including my mothers uncle. He spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 POW CAMP. You also need to realize that the German Fighters had 20 or 30 MM rounds being shot at those bombers , where as we were only shooting back at them with 50 caliber rounds , if the bombers got hit with those 20 mill rounds it would go through like a hot knife through butter. God bless these young men who fought and died for this country

The low/low in formation came to be known as "Coffin Corner" due to the high rate of losses of planes in that position. Flak can be set to detonate at any altitude, the gunners can adjust it on the fly to compensate for missing. The bombers are too big to do evasive actions, so they mostly stayed within a few hundred feet and on the same course towards the target. Flak was also radar guided at times which made it deadlier. The planes never got low enough to 'zoom' through a flak battery killbox.

My grandfather was the one with the Alice picture. The bombardier on Alice from Dallas.

The diving scene, the controls we basically cables and pulleys no hydraulics. So think of it this way, when you try to close a storm door on a really gusty day, takes a bit of muscle. So multiply the speed of that wind to somewhere in the 300+ MPH range, it's gonna take some strength to get out of the dive.

Hey guys! Great reaction. I noticed at the beginning (around 3:20) you mentioned the hydraulics on the bomber possibly being messed up. B-17s didn't have hydraulic controls. They were controlled via cables and pulley systems that were attached to the pilots yoke(s).

Slight correction here: Those were Messerschmitt 109s if I'm not mistaken. It's one of the main German airplane manufacturers along with Focke-Wulf, Heinkel and Junkers. It's not all that different from the US where you have a few major companies ( Lockheed, Northrop-Grunman, Boeing ) involved in manufacturing all kinds of airplanes, they're not divided by roles like this company only manufactures fighters, that one only bombers, etc... The Messerschmitt 109 and the Focke-Wulf 190 were both excellent fighters. So far after 2 episodes I am really liking this show. I was worried a bit that they will obviously have to go with a lot of CGI but they did a good job, those B-17s look glorious. Obviosuly they built some or used real ones for the inside/ground scenes but I really like the visuals so far. Dont know much about the 100th Bombardment group except that they've suffered tremendous losses due their decision to bomb at daytime unlike the Brits who were only bombing at night time. BTW in wartime any landing you can walk away from is a good landing :)

Messerschmitt, Focke-Wulf, Dornier, Junkers, and Heinkel all made fighters for Germany in WWII.

Random stuff.... The aircraft were not pressurized, until ones like the B-29 were showing up later. The aircrew were bundled up, sometimes having uniforms with heating elements in them. The inside of the plane, and the equipment, would be cold. The closing speed, when enemy fighters attacked head on, is probably over 600 mph. That's mere seconds to see the fighters and shoot at them. It was easy to miss spotting them, get slapped at, and watch them pass behind you. Some targets to bomb were within range of friendly fighter escort, but not a requirement for the planners. I'd expect the raids on Schweinfurt to show up in pt 2. There are very few WWII warbirds still around, so CGI is probably used for many scenes.

The man drinking milk is real. He drank it because he had stomach alcers. He was in contant pain and the milk helped him to ease the pain a little.

Nice to watch along with reactors who know a thing or two about WW2 history as well!

Pilots were mostly college educated attended Army Flight school then attended Bomber Flight School to get acquainted with B17 flight controls and the rest of the crew its where they got their first look at the Norden Bomb Sight where the bomberdair had control of the plane during the entire bomb run they actually had a lead bomberdair where they looked at the lead plane to drop their bombs first where as soon as they started then the rest follows

Fellow 732’r here!!! Just found you guys and cool episode!! Can’t wait to see your reaction for part 2 I’m excited about this series and been waiting a long time for it…

i also started this and was hooked from moment one. Its great, however i was not surprised.

That yellow cylinder you saw get hit wasn’t a bomb. That was an oxygen tank, thus the fire instead of an explosion

When his hands stuck he didn't burn them. They were operating at temperatures between -40c and -50c. They were stuck to the guns as they froze to them.

Don't forget Hanks' "Greyhound" 2020

Buck and Bucky joined the USAF in 1940 and to have an idea on losses throughout each plane crew was 10 men and for later in the series when seeing losses easy company was 150 men

Bf-109 Messerschmitt FIGHTERS in many variants were used from 1938 through 1945. 190s came around mid 1943.

If you thought that vomit bag was gross wait till you read about what they had to use for #1 and #2 on their 15 hour flights

A 99 year old WW2 B24 pilot reacted to 1st episode too. Everyone should check it out

You could take out a bomber quickly by hitting the front/cockpit as that was were the flying crew were...I think that was the primary target for the first pass on a bomber formation by the luftwaffe....After the first pass it was every man for himself which was the flanks and rear of the enemy aircraft for obvious reasons...The reference to '190's' in the episode is the Focke Wulfe 190 german aircraft....The main luftwaffe single engine fighter aircraft at this stage was the Messerschmidt 109 and the Focke Wulfe 190....JFYI

The silence before “interrogation” is probably to keep reports fresh and unchanged. If they talk amongst each other before recording it, they risk crossing wires with each others reports.

3:43 the Germans used a variety of interceptor fighters during the war, but the more common ones where BF 109’s and FW 190’s. Messerschmitt did mostly produce bombers; they also churned out a lot of the engines used in the fighters. But I’m just an armchair historian, so if you want the cold hard facts I’d go to the proper historians

The bikes were a big thing because gas was rationed so no gas for cars. It was for trucks and ambulances and buses. only important people would have access to a car. So a bike was the best way to get around but even they were scarce because few new bikes were being made.

Excellent reaction. Show is really well done so far, I can tell my nerves are going to be shredded by the end of this.

Maybe this was answered already, I just skimmed through the comments and haven’t seen it yet, but what happened to the ball turret on the B-17 that had to belly land? Just before they put it down, the plane looks like the ball turret has been removed. I don’t claim to be an expert, but my understanding is that the B-17 didn’t have a retractable ball. The B-24 Liberator did, but not the B-17. It’s one of those puzzling things because there’s so much attention to detail, yet the ball turret isn’t there. Maybe arriving in country they weren’t installed yet? Anyone know?

The crew grows. Ok. I like it.

2 bikes on the base at this time went for about 10 pounds sterling. That was a ton of money in 1943.

Interesting reaction video!

Messerschmitt were also the fighters.

Gail seems like a girl's name, but think about it as a Gale in a storm. Pretty cool name actually.

The americans talk about precision bombing but like the British very rarely hit the target accurately

Late on this one, great reaction!

Amazing show

Milk of Magnesia you will find out later

Please give reactions to each episode!

Looking up the real people the characters are based on is kinda hilarious. The casting department should have been fired. The Real life Buck Clevens played by Austin Butler actually looked more like Jonah Hill or John Belushi.

The first scene shown in this review shows uniformed men in bars with made-up women. This is a very poor representation of what the story allegedly represents. In England men did not meet women in bars. They might meet a woman at a dance. English women were not made up and were rather plain looking, their attractiveness was more their inner selves. In training in the US there may have been the time for meeting women. Generally, however, the use of one's off-time to meet women was looked down on, as rest or at best sightseeing prevailed. Also English women did not have money for cosmetics. I went through officer school and flight training in the US in 1975 and we did not spend time in bars with women. We had information to study and tests to pass OR ELSE and this recreation just did not happen, as a rule, it was not part of the experience. The intercourse between men and women simply is off-topic and all the war films that focus on this rather than the real subject, war and its destructiveness and sacrifice and pain and emotional and physical challenge, this barfly approach denigrates the subject. To put this in perspective, tell me how one would reasonably add scenes with women in bars to "12 O'Clock High".

It was terrible, just one long cliche after another. Even the graphics look as if they were created for a video game.

A disappointing film. Memphis Belle and 12 O'Clock High (the movie) are both better.