Masters of the Air – Season 1 Episode 8 “Part Eight” Recap & Review

Part Eight

Episode 8 of Master of the Air begins with the introduction of the Tuskegee Airmen. The renowned group played a significant role as part of the 15th UAF flying numerous air missions with unmatched precision and success. We primarily focus on three airmen – Second Lieutenant Robert Daniels, Lieutenant Alexander Jefferson, and Richard Macon. They formed the 99th Pursuit Squadron, which was tactically one of the best units in the Air Force. The Tuskegee flew missions from bases in Italy, primarily the Ramitelli base. 

Their missions into Europe came much later but it was the Tuskegee who escorted many missions for the 8th in their blistering P-51 fighter jets. Meanwhile, at the Stalag III, eight months have passed since Cleven and Egan were captured. Egan is getting impatient with the waiting. He grows anxious every day that the Americans in the prisoner camps do not fight back. But Cleven asks him to bide his time. They are fast approaching the moment to seize their destinies and break out from under the Germans.

At the Thorpe and Abbots airfield, Harry Crossby narrates the three-day period when he would have almost no sleep. The calendar has turned to 3 June 1944, 72 hours away from D-Day. This is, of course, when Masters of the Air’s timeline overlaps with Band of Brothers. The Normandy landing was only made possible due to the stunning support from the air. Cross narrates that apart from the Normandy mission, the 8th also had to fly further inland and destroy the German communication lines and railroads.

As Group Navigator, Cross had to chart out all the routes on the maps. He explains that during this period, he had to handle missions running into hundreds as the war reached its twilight. During this montage, we also learn that Sandra Westgate is a spy with the British intelligence agency, currently running a mission in Paris. Although Cross had gone nonstop for almost 64 hours, his body couldn’t take more and he collapsed, waking up three days later. 

CO Bennett is replaced by Colonel Jeffrey, who will oversee this testing period. The invasion of Europe will be the make-or-break point in this journey. On D-Day, we learn about the victory of the Allies through two perspectives. One, from the Stalag, and the other, from the field. The former is more stretched out as Cleven, Egan, and the rest of the prisoners prepare an escape plan. They very well know that once the Allies invade Germany, the SS can as easily execute them all as march them across harsh terrains. 

It is Rosie who greets Cross when he finally wakes up, informing him of the Normandy landing and a telling blow to Germany’s hopes of winning the war. We jump two months after D-Day when Germany is fighting a two-front war. Presently, the captured Americans think that instead of executing them, the Germans might move them deeper into Germany to use them as leverage. As for the Tuskegee, their air missions are almost suicidal in nature. To ensure that Operation Dragoon was successful and Allied forces could land in Southern France, the Tuskegee airmen would fly missions at these landing sites.

Their targets are in Marseille, Toulon, and Saint-Tropez, where they destroyed German detection radars. It is similar in nature to what happened in Normandy but the odds are bleaker. As SL Macon rightly points out during the prep meeting, the airmen will not have enough fuel to return back to base. They most probably will have to make it to friendlier territories or land in German territory as well. Although the mission is successful, Macon, Jefferson, and Daniels are caught in Toulon after their planes go down.

These three men are taken to Stalag, where they meet up with Cleven and the others. The two factions are planning escapes on their own accord, awaiting the right moment to make their moves. Jefferson and Cleven bond over their experience as fighter pilots. Cleven discovers a map Jefferson drew by memory, which intrigues him as it could help in their plan. This is when the two plans are merged into a larger attempt to escape the Germans. 

The Episode Review

The downward spiral for the show continues in the business end, which isn’t turning out to be as good as the first part. Episode 8 is tactically compromised with weak plotting and hasty planning. Everything feels scattered and all over the place. This episode is as confusing as can be and wastes several minutes in prefacing the characters and context, which was not even necessary. We only get five minutes of the Normandy beach landing and only parts of other important real-life missions the units flew.

It is in this second half that the focus of the show has shifted from the air to the ground which just isn’t as interesting. The makers seem enamoured with Austin and Turner’s characters, who have had the lion’s share of screen time. Anthony Boyle’s Cross has also faded with time with the insistence to let everything in the show flow through him.

Granted he is the narrator but the attention to his arc is disproportionately high. The Tuskegee airmen are introduced very late in the story. This is not commensurate with the role they played in the war, flying some of the most crucial attacks into Europe. I am disappointed with how the show has progressed. The episode encapsulates everything that went wrong with the vision of what Masters of the Air was supposed to be.