Masters of the Air
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I am a man of little power and less influence.
But I do have eyes.
Its all so explicit and didactic!
We were truly themasters of the air, says Croz, to coin a phrase.
Fictional Brooklynite Captain Steve Rogers had nothing on real-life Brookynite Lieutenant Colonel Robert Rosie Rosenthal.)
In terms of tension and production value, this sequence is as adroitly executed as any in the series.
Were not going down in Berlin!
With his able-bodied crew evacuated Rosie delays his own para-jump by trying to help his unconscious tail gunner escape.
Hiding in a bomb crater, he watches Russian troops shoot a couple of Nazi soldiers trying to surrender.
As the Russians reach him, he spends a few panicked seconds identifying himself Amerikanski!
before they lower their rifles and drag him to safety.
This is exciting stuff, and all of it is straight out of Donald L. Millers book.
Buck and Bucky sidebar and agree that to have a go at flee the column would be suicide.
Back at Thorpe Abbotts, Crosby receives word that Rosies crew has been shot down.
I guess youve never flown over Germany without a parachute, Croz says.
When the guy gives him a smirking response, Croz pushes his face into his plate of eggs.
This show frequently feels like key scenes have been excized.
the men jockey for space by its fire.
Theyre permitted a few hours rest before theyre marched to a train station and packed into cattle cars.
Through the slats, Solomon sees the signs for Nuremberg.
From the depot, theyre marched to Stalag XIII.
One of its inmates calls out to Buck.
George tells Bucky hes a Cubs man.
Theyre always next year, Bucky consoles him.
In Poland, on the Road to Poznan thank you, title card!
A senior officer hands him a handkerchief, which an English-speaking lieutenant tells Rosie is for the smell.
From the sign above the gate, we see itsZabikowo Camp.
This is Rosies and the shows first look at one of the sites of Nazi genocide.
Withered corpses lie in the courtyard; one hung from a noose, another tied to a post.
The English-speaking lieutenant approaches Rosie delicately.
Our comrades found even bigger camps than this, he says.
They were built for killing people.
Many people at a time.
At a nearby Russian Air Base (when I say Title!, you say Card!)
Rosie confers with an elderly refugee through a young Jewish woman, who translates for the Yiddish-speaking man.
Rosie asks where he will go.
Palestine, the man says.
Go with God, Rosie says to him in Yiddish.
The woman translates the old mans reply: He says that if God exists, He has forgotten him.
Not even the earth that covers our bones will remember us.
Bubs reports that their captors are preparing to move them yet again, fleeing the Allied advance.
Bucky proposes the three of them break away with another POW, Geroge Aring.
So thats a Buck, a Bucky, and two Georges.
Evidentlynameswere rationed during World War II along with everything else.
Just then, an American P-51 swoops down to strafe the column.
In the darkness, the pilot has mistaken these thousands of dislocated POWs for German infantry.
Buck cools his friend out by telling him, Im in.
Theyll sneak away at the first opportunity.
As the column reaches a village, Bubs announces theyve done their 20 klicks for the night.
The two Georges slip off and vault over a wall, followed by Buck.
Its a mournful pause where the episode needs one.
He and Aring then discover the firearms theyve taken from these Nazis are unloaded anyway.
Rosie is hailed as a hero on his return to Thorpe Abbotts.
Croz shares the news that his wife, Jean, is pregnant.
Croz is anxious he may be unsuited for fatherhood because of all the killing theyve done.
Rosie reassures his friend their violence has been righteous.
He doesnt reveal what he learned of the Nazis depravity in Poland.
He just says, They got it comin.
This scene introduces us to Operation Chowhound, a relief mission to airdrop food to starving Dutch civilians.
A truce has been negotiated, but no one is sure the Germans will honor it.
At Stalag VII, another P-51 attacks.
This is the spark for the POWs to rise up and take the camp.
Bucky runs from tent to tent, trying to find an American flag.
Its Jefferson who finds one and hands it to him.
Miller reports thatsomeonedid this, but not who.
But its not enough.
The number of words Jefferson speaks in this episode barely breaks double digits.
(I added the comma.
Thats probably tough to do with garden shears.)
At first, it felt unreal, impossible, imaginable, Croz narrates.
And then, inevitable.
We were going home.
Did Buck and Bucky really fly out of England together as pilot and copilot aboard the same B-17?
He looks a century younger here than he did as a POW.
with the exception of Egan, who was just 45 when he died of a heart attack in 1961.
I hope this show, imperfect a tribute though it is, expands their notoriety.
Now give us a Red Tails series, Apple.
