Masters of the Air (Band of Brothers sequel)

[JakeySnakey630]

The airplane stuff has been fantastic so far.

Flying - I imagine a lot of this is done with CGI. I'm just super impressed that they seem to have gotten all of the flight dynamics right. So often these things turn into video games, as real WW2 aircraft weren't maneuverable enough to be so-called "exciting" for modern viewers. These airplanes fly right for the era. In ep1, they even got the wheels-up landing correct, where the belly turret was ejected before landing. Superb.

On the ground, external - I am puzzled where the props end and where CGI begins. These things are spectacular. On the one hand, I'm totally convinced the bombers that these boys are crawling around and over are real, but on the other hand they're being treated far too roughly to be actual WW2 artifacts. The battle damage here is spectacular.

Internal - I know these are sets, but the sheet metal work on the aircraft interiors, for being reproductions, is just top-notch. There's simply no faking this. I'm totally convinced some set designer got blueprints from Boeing and just started bucking rivets. I wouldn't be surprised that these prop makers have created nearly flightworthy pieces.

I really, really want to see a "making of" reel when this is all done.

It’s a company called BGI Supplies Ltd here in the UK that have made the B17s. They’ve made the exterior and interior models, with folks employed to replicate the aircraft down to the text around each specific dial in the cockpits. This company made the ornithopters in Dune as well as lots of other vehicles from the train in the latest Mission Impossible to the cannons in Napoleon. It’s worth checking out their insta page. Fantastic stuff from the UK film industry.

 

[Joek3rr]

The airplane stuff has been fantastic so far.

Flying - I imagine a lot of this is done with CGI. I'm just super impressed that they seem to have gotten all of the flight dynamics right. So often these things turn into video games, as real WW2 aircraft weren't maneuverable enough to be so-called "exciting" for modern viewers. These airplanes fly right for the era. In ep1, they even got the wheels-up landing correct, where the belly turret was ejected before landing. Superb.

On the ground, external - I am puzzled where the props end and where CGI begins. These things are spectacular. On the one hand, I'm totally convinced the bombers that these boys are crawling around and over are real, but on the other hand they're being treated far too roughly to be actual WW2 artifacts. The battle damage here is spectacular.

Internal - I know these are sets, but the sheet metal work on the aircraft interiors, for being reproductions, is just top-notch. There's simply no faking this. I'm totally convinced some set designer got blueprints from Boeing and just started bucking rivets. I wouldn't be surprised that these prop makers have created nearly flightworthy pieces.

I really, really want to see a "making of" reel when this is all done.

 

[joberg]

Love that featurette; I hope there's more in the future.

 

[MGC]

I'm totally convinced some set designer got blueprints from Boeing and just started bucking rivets.

The planes were built from Boeing drawings, all the ribs etc were assembled, sheet metal was hand-rolled over them. There were 2 x full B17s that were finished inside and out, one static and one self-taxi-ing. They were essentially new-build planes.

 

[G W Zipper]

I need to see more of this. I've seen several P-51's essentially built from scratch, but a B17 is something else altogether. Fantastic, just fantastic.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Three in so far.
Pleased a sufficient amount of pilot-ey stuff is suffered through by the general audience, checklists! damn it checklists! Cross wind landings, fuel management, navigation. Boring boring but real.

As for real, the brutality and horror in the air, they aren't holding back.

You certainly are begging for the fighter cover to show up at this point.


Recently I read a news story about Gen Y or whatever it is, shunning learning to drive.
Bad time for me to read that while watching this.

 

[batguy]

Recently I read a news story about Gen Y or whatever it is, shunning learning to drive.
Bad time for me to read that while watching this.

I'm a lifetime gearhead and I totally get why modern kids aren't interested.

It's not like the boomer era now. Cars are all WAY higher costs and most of the fun is gone from them. Kids socialize on the net/phones more than in person. In modern suburbia there's nowhere for kids to get unsupervised privacy after-hours. Nowhere to race around or hang out with friends or get some quality time with a girl. Cars are mostly just an appliance so they can transport themselves (to work, to pay for the car) and cart their little sister around to soccer practice. I get why kids are saying "screw this treadmill of costs & responsibilities". They can buy an Uber if they need to get somewhere so badly.

 

[CessnaDriver]

I'm a lifetime gearhead and I totally get why modern kids aren't interested.

It's not like the boomer era now. Cars are all WAY higher costs and most of the fun is gone from them. Kids socialize on the net/phones more than in person. In modern suburbia there's nowhere for kids to get unsupervised privacy after-hours. Nowhere to race around or hang out with friends or get some quality time with a girl. Cars are mostly just an appliance so they can transport themselves (to work, to pay for the car) and cart their little sister around to soccer practice. I get why kids are saying "screw this treadmill of costs & responsibilities". They can buy an Uber if they need to get somewhere so badly.

Well, when I see some using the term "adulting" with disdain, sort of where my head is on that. Driving I would consder a basic life skill. it's just the contrast is so great. Comparing the "greatest generation" to any others probably won't end well. Anyways, digressing.

 

[CessnaDriver]

 

[batguy]

Well, when I see some using the term "adulting" with disdain, sort of where my head is on that. Driving I would consder a basic life skill. it's just the contrast is so great. Comparing the "greatest generation" to any others probably won't end well. Anyways, digressing.

Is it really? In the smartphone & Amazon & Uber era? Life skills are changing fast. You can live in some urban areas and never have a license. It's not hard to fathom why kids would view it as less critical to rush out and get one when the incentives are lopsided against it.

I know a guy who has a license and a car but he works from home and gets a lot of deliveries. He can go weeks without starting his car and sometimes has to jump-start it. He's not even in an urban area, just a suburban one with stores close by. He walks for exercise.

IMO driving a car is still a life skill but its importance has probably peaked. It's a notch down from where it was 20 years ago.


IMO no generation is ever eager to take on higher responsibilities without some kind of payoff. That's just humans being humans.

Today they are wisecracking about "adulting." A few decades ago it was "Never trust anyone over 30." The Who were singing "I hope I die before I get old." It's not so different.

But yeah, this is digressing.

 

[joberg]

Loved the video showing the veteran explaining how some of the scenes were pretty accurate...

 

[CessnaDriver]

Loved the video showing the veteran explaining how some of the scenes were pretty accurate...

yeah, amazing he is still around and sharp.
My Mom passed last year at 98. She was in Spokane before she met my father and would remember the massive amounts of bomber formations flying over. She described the sea of white hats in downtown San Diego when the war ended. Sights never to be seen again. There aren't many left of that generation, and then to be mentally there and articulate enough with memory of the events as this vet was.

My father was Navy, state based in Coronado, not a bad way to spend the war, he passed in the early eighties though. No big war stories, he was a metalsmith and repaired Hellcats, PBYs, PBMs, etc of that era. There was one incident where a safety mechanism must have failed I would think, and a pilot accidentally depressed the trigger and shot up a hanger for a few rounds. So they all were ducking during that. So he came under friendly fire I guess. LOL Another was heading out to Arizona to rescue a seaplane, PBM that had to land in the desert there, fitted with temporary landing gear, jettisoned after takeoff to land in the bay back in San Diego. Here's the christened with fresh nose art "The Mirage of Willcox Dry Lake". They sent him home before the take off though. So he didn't get to see it leave.

 

[joberg]

Looking at the pic, it seems they stripped it from his front machine gun...I guess weight was a concern.
Great story, btw

 

[CessnaDriver]

Looking at the pic, it seems they stripped it from his front machine gun...I guess weight was a concern.
Great story, btw

Good eye. And damn, my Dad didn't bring them home. OH well. LOL

 

[joberg]

Good eye. And damn, my Dad didn't bring them home. OH well. LOL

Happened to my Dad and his cousin; they were looking at Lancasters returning from a bomb run (Belgium, 1944) flying over their house in the Flanders. One of the bomber was in trouble (1 engine down and the other smoking). At that moment, they saw the crew getting rid of the rear machine gun. Landed with a thud, in the forest, right in front of their house. Dad and the cousin decided to bury the whole thing (the region is sandy; easy to dig) and come back, after the War, to dig it out. They never marked the site properly and years later, trying to recover the machine guns, never found them again