Masters of the Air: Where was Steven Spielberg’s spectacular war sequence filmed?

A new production from the trio of Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Gottzman, after Band of Brothers and The Pacific, the war drama Masters of the Air is one of the must-see series of the year.

Currently streaming on Apple TV+, this 9-episode mini-series tells the incredible story of the 100th Bombardment Group of the 8th US Air Force (nicknamed the “Bloody Hundredth” due to heavy casualties) responsible for bombing Nazi Germany. during the Second World War.

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Based primarily on Donald L. Based on Miller’s book of the same name and the memoirs of real war heroes, Masters of the Air boasts an exceptional cast including Austin Boulter, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Nkuti Gatwa, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann and Rafe. Law to play these special pilots.

Filmed in Great Britain

These airmen were stationed in the United Kingdom and based at Thorpe Abbots, it made sense that the airmen would be based there for filming. If the team didn’t go to real locations, they still invested in the country to film real sequences by going to London, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hertfordshire.

It should be noted that scenes in other countries that the pilots willingly visited, such as Algeria, Italy, France, Belgium and Germany, were all filmed in the United Kingdom for logistical reasons; Especially since production took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and health crisis.

As for studio filming, the Masters of the Air team took over the studios at Bovingdon Airfield, which hosted productions on films such as 1917, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Argyll.

Impressive reconstruction

For the sake of realism and a huge budget, the Masters of Air team recreated a larger-than-life base to house the actors who trained physically and mentally at a military boot camp run by Dale Day, a former soldier turned actor. Film technical advisor.

The series team also built two B-17 planes (the bombers used by the pilots) that were used for the ground scenes but also for take-offs and landings, thanks to the historical archives, yesterday and today, because the B-17 still exists! But it was impossible to use them for filming.

But that’s not all since the cabin has been updated to feature indoor and outdoor sections. This cabinet was then placed inside a raised and rotating fixture and in front of Volume (an array of giant LEDs arranged in a ring that allows scenery to be projected, calculated and changed in real-time, editor’s note). Make the gameplay and actors’ reactions more realistic.

The Masters of the Air series is currently broadcast on Apple TV+, via the platform and myCANAL.