Masters of the Air Episode 1 recap: Bumpy flights

Masters of the Air Episode 1 takes flight in style, introducing audiences to the inaugural members of the Bloody Hundredth – and the terrors that await them above the clouds.

In 2001, it was Band of Brothers, following “Easy” Company on their brutal campaign through WW2 from their paratrooper training in the US through to Japan’s capitulation. Nine years later, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg re-teamed for The Pacific, viewing the conflict through the eyes of Marines thousands of miles away.

Now, it’s time for Masters of the Air. Based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, it chronicles the heroic efforts of the notorious Bloody Hundredth, a bombardment group under the 8th Air Force that carried out daytime bombings over Nazi Germany – and suffered immense losses on every mission.

Episodes 1 and 2 have both premiered on Apple TV+ today, and if you’ve ever felt a bit lost, we’re going to recap the events of the first chapter.

Masters of the Air Episode 1 recap

We open Glenn Miller’s ‘Sleep Town Train’, with two impatient soldiers drinking shots and lamenting their wait to be deployed. “Bucky’s got all the luck,” Everett Blakely (David Shields) says, but Charles Cruikshank (Matt Gavan) thinks he’s talking about the girl on his arm, Peggy (Ella Rubin). “He’s gonna be a stone’s throw away from the krauts while we’re still flying practice missions in Nebraska,” he says.

The camera drifts over to Bucky, real name John Egan (Callum Turner), and Buck, real name Gale Cleven (Austin Butler). Buck’s girlfriend Marge (Isabel May) says Bucky needs to find a girl worth writing to, but Buck says he’s not much of a “penpal type.” Really, Marge just wants to be assured that Buck will send her letters – and he will. However, the romance of it all is diluted by the reality of him being shipped out. “I’ll miss you every second,” he says.

After the boys in the bar raise a glass to Bucky, they explain the story of their weirdly similar nicknames to the ladies. Both of them met in basic training before the war started, and Bucky (who’d always had that name since he was a child) said Gale reminded him of a Buck back home. Bucky wasn’t deterred by Gale’s resistance to the name. “Buck this, Buck that… before I know it, the whole damn 8th Air Force is calling me Buck,” he explains.

As Marge and Isabel scooch out of the booth, Bucky tells Buck: “I am amazed that we’re friends. You don’t like to dance with a beautiful woman. You don’t drink, you don’t gamble. You don’t even like sports.” Buck responds: “Well, we’re one of life’s mysteries.”

Longing, loving glances tee up Artie Shaw’s ‘Begin the Beguine’, and the two pals look at each other in quiet wonderment that time has finally caught up. “This is it,” they both say. Buck says Bucky won’t be flying much in his role as an “air exec”, but Bucky already phoned the CO (commanding officer) and managed to nab a spot as an observation pilot with the 389th until the rest of the 100th’s men arrive in England.

“Someone’s gotta taste a little combat, tell you what it’s really like up there,” Bucky says. “Well, don’t you die on me before I get over there,” Buck replies. “Don’t count on it,” Bucky assures.

Flying is violence at all times

Apple TV+

We cut to Bucky’s plane nose-diving through the clouds on May 21, 1943, above Wilhelmshaven, Germany. As they extinguish the fire on one of their engines, they manage to level out – but enemy fighters quickly approach and pepper their aircraft with bullets, hitting Duval (Sam Roberts). Bucky heads down to help him and applies some sulfa powder.

In lieu of a navigator, Bucky successfully guides them back home and saves Duval’s life. “Are they all like that?” he asks Burgin (John-Paul Bell), wondering if he should warn his friends. “Don’t say anything, they’ll figure it out. We all do.”

After the first opening title sequence, we arrive at Bluie West One Airfield Greenland for “some shuteye and rest” before going to the UK. “The 100th Bomb Group was sent to England in the spring of 1943 to join the US Army’s 8th Force in its battle against Nazi Germany,” the narrator says.

The men on Buck’s plane share a photo of one of their (rather muscly) girlfriends among them. “She’s special,” Roy Claytor (Sawyer Spielberg) tells Buck, who replies: “She’s… formidable.”

As they approach the runway, the winds make their landing a bit hairy, but they touch down successfully with no injuries or damage to the plane. Others aren’t so confident, forced to take off as their wheels are mere meters from the ground.

The narrator explains how the unit is made up of four squadrons, and that Buck was the commander of the 350th, making him and Bucky the “unquestioned leaders of the entire group.” We get a breakneck introduction to many of the men assigned to the 100th, including Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle, now revealed as the narrator) and his friend “Bubbles” (Louis Greatorex), who ask if they can add Buck’s hometown (Casper, Wyoming) to the map.

Buck walks over to talk to the barman (Ronan Summers) about an “incident” involving Bucky a few weeks back. Buck hands him a box that’s said to be a “replacement” for whatever his buddy broke – but inside, there’s just a small unicorn paperweight. It turns out Bucky not only took a narwhal tusk off of the pub’s wall, but he broke it in half, ripped the couches, and nearly broke every glass in the bar. “Your friend seemed fine… until he started to sing,” the barman says.

This is England

Apple TV+

Over in England on June 8, 1943, Buck is getting merry. He bets some locals that Tommy (Tommy Jessop) can throw a dart and hit an apple on top of his head. In return, he’ll get two bicycles and a kiss – and Tommy’s aim is just as sharp as he promised. Bucky rides his winnings back to Thorpe Abbott, the 100th’s home for the next few years.

Up in the skies, Crosby’s crew (who he’s meant to be navigating) get separated over the Atlantic. That’d be bad enough, but he’s also incredibly airsick and can’t stop vomiting, even puking over the gunman next to him. He’s asked to figure out a route while they fix the plane’s electrical problem, but he unwittingly points them in the direction of France – and straight into heavy flak (anti-air artillery from below).

Fortunately, they manage to turn around before they’re hit, but that’s only the start of their problems. Their landing gear is jammed, so they’re forced to perform a “belly landing.” Amazingly, nobody is hurt and they all escape the plane intact. The pilot tells Bucky and Buck about the mechanical failure, but nothing to do with Crosby’s mix-up. “Get a grip on that air sickness… or get off my plane,” he’s told. Elsewhere, Bernard DeMarco (Adam Long) arrives with his dog, Meatball, and Bucky explains what happened with the tusk. “The unicorn is my favorite extinct animal,” he jokes.

Soon after, Bucky meets with Col. Harold Huglin (Nikolai Kinski), the CO of the 100th. He reiterates the gravity of being air exec. “You are in charge of 35 planes and 350 air crewmen, boys who have yet to experience combat,” he’s told, but Bucky believes flying is more important than “folding” clothes and the tidiness of their bunks. Bucky thinks he’d be of more use as a squadron commander, but the CO isn’t interested. As he’s dismissed, Huglin vomits blood all over Bucky’s file.

Time to fly

Apple TV+

June 25, 1943, 0300 hours: it’s time for the 100th’s first mission. They get a “special” breakfast: eggs (that are powdered), french toast, flapjacks, bacon, fresh grapefruit juice, and a couple of cups of “GI coffee…. the men will come to call it the last supper,” the narrator explains. As they sit down to eat, one of the men accidentally spills the salt. In a move straight out of the Lloyd Christmas playbook, he doesn’t just toss the salt behind his back to rid himself of bad luck: he throws the whole shaker.

We then get our first appearance from Curtis Biddick (Barry Keoghan), whom Buck is flying with on the mission. After breakfast, Huglin explains their objective: bombing U-boat pens on the Weser River in Bremen. “I cannot stress enough the importance of this target. We lost almost 70 cargo ships to U-boats last month alone, and if we can’t get material from the United States to Great Britain, we won’t be stepping foot on the continent,” he says.

The Air Force aims to have a wing strength of 78 heavy bombers, but they’re warned about “concentrated” heavy flak on the lead-up to the target. As if the men’s nerves weren’t high enough, Father Teska (Gary Shelford) offers himself to anyone who needs him before they take off. As Buck sets off, Bucky gives him his “lucky deuce.”

“Let’s knock one off, drop bombs on those Nazi f*cks, and we get to go home early,” Curtis tells his men. “First time in the sawmill boys… let’s rack ’em up and knock ’em down,” Buck adds. After completing their pre-flight check list, they take off in the “Flying Fortress” – not knowing the terrors that await them.

“We didn’t drop a single bomb”

Everything’s going just dandy. Soon, they’re at 25,000ft and getting everyone into formation, despite the “soup” (thick clouds). The 349th starts to fall behind, and its lead plane flies back home. On the ground, enemy soldiers ready their anti-air weaponry, and soon the men are surrounded by flak; all they can do is call out every blast they see and pray they don’t get hit.

As they’re battered in the air, they realize they don’t have any visibility of the targets below, so the CO “scrubs” the whole mission. It’s not as simple as just turning back: enemy fighters arrive, and carnage ensues. Planes are downed left, right, and center, with men torn to pieces by bullets and glass. One man rips the skin off his hands when he tries to unjam his gun – funnily enough, metal gets pretty cold when you’re that high up.

Soon, there’s only two bombers left from the 349th. As they land, men are rushed off by medics, and Huglin collapses onto the tarmac after spewing blood. Only 15 planes made it back.

Buck sits in the so-called Fortress, peering through the giant holes in the fuselage. He stumbles out, not just broken by the losses, but the complete lack of a point to it all. “Didn’t drop a single bomb,” he tells Bucky, saying that he had to get rid of them over the English Channel. “Why didn’t you tell me… you’d been up, you didn’t tell me it was like that,” Buck says.

“I didn’t know what to say, you’ve seen it now,” Bucky responds. “I don’t know what I saw… 30 guys, just… we got a long road ahead of us.”

Masters of the Air Episodes 1-2 are streaming on Apple TV+, which you can sign up for here. You can also check out our other coverage below:

Review | Release schedule: Dates & episodes | Cast and real-life characters | Is it a Band of Brothers sequel?