Masters of the Air
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Army nurses offer them shots of whiskey as they drag themselves into the barracks.
The 100th can expect a new boss.
Hes still drunk,a fact the new C.O.
Bucky eyes the typewritten letter his new boss has on his desk, perceiving its significance.
Buck volunteers to help with this somber chore.
They get more of a show than Lemmons promised them when a bomber crashes over his shoulder.
It was a new crew from the 349th squadron on a practice mission, were told.
The new Air Exec gives the grim stats: The 100th Bomb Group, a.k.a.
the Bloody Hundredth, is now down six airplanes and 66 airmen.
That night at the pub, Buck and Bucky get into it with some RAF crewmen.
This scene dramatizes a key distinction between American and English forces at this stage in the war.
They improved their odds of surviving flak by bombing at night.
It doesnt matter what we hit as long as its German, one of the Brits explains.
Bombing during the day is suicide.
The Brits know these Americans have just lost comrades, but theyve been losing comrades for years.
They dont back down when they see the Yanks taking their generalities about bombardment strategy personally.
A test of manhood, his laconic friend drawls in his Elvis voice.
I dont lose any sleep over whether the pinstripes beat the polka dots.
Curt dodges the Brits awkward blow and drops him with a counterpunch.
See, youcanhit the target at night!
Some among the Allies even thought this approach might make ordinary Germans rebel against Hitlers regime.
Despite his weak stomach, Crosby manages to lead the formation group to their target.
The crew accomplishes its mission, releasing their bombs over the target, and begins to turn for home.
That means Crosby needs to determine a new heading to bring the group home at a slower speed.
Then he remembers hed spent the first several hours of the mission vomiting into that helmet.
War is Hell, and Hell is gross.
The pokey group has just about made Scotland when Curts fort loses a third engine.
His crash landing at Fraserburgh destroys a farmhouse but gets his crew on the ground alive.
Back at Thorpe Abbots, Crosby is telling Bubbles about the helmet-puke incident.
No one suggests Upchuck Chuck or Pukey Harry.
That evening at the officers club, a military band lights into Blue Skies, Buckys signature song.
They mightve omitted it had they known hed take it as an invitation to sing.
He wins the bet via a dad joke about the difference between a Zippo and a hippo.
The dance party becomes an indoor bicycle race, random but celebratory.
Bucky and Buck watch the bombs and antiaircraft fire light up the nighttime sky over nearby RAF Norwich.
Violent conflict looks beautiful from a safe distance.
Buck reflects that those RAF pricks were right daylight missions are suicide.
He and Bucky renew their vows to lead their men through them regardless.Boysis the word they use.
Bucky is an elder statesman of 27, after all.
And Buck is twenty-four.
Two-and-a-half years later, that B-17 crashed in Connecticut, killing seven people, including one on the ground.