This episode was the weakest of the seven so far released, which is sad because some of the scenes are among the best of the series.
The POW scenes are excellent at capturing the raw sense of fear and boredom, as you realize you live at pretty much the whim of mostly poorly trained camp guards, many of whom concluded that if they shot a prisoner, the odds of them suffering any disciplinary action for it were very low.
This stands in sharp contrast to the producers' inexplicable decision to depict Harry Crosby in a very negative light, which is entirely fictional, as it relates to his relationship in country with the same British officer he met at the Oxford University conference.
This negative character development operates in sharp contrast to Crosby's book, where he makes it clear his relationship with this British officer was platonic. This platonic relationship was quite well produced in episode six. So, for the producers to go down a fictional path in this episode seems cringingly out of place.
There were plenty of other characters in this series to choose from to make this sort of romantic depiction, and considering most of the aircrew were not married, if the series wished to focus on the reality of American airmen and British women hooking up, then that's how it should have been portrayed.
The other reason is that Crosby, for his part in his autobiography, was unflinching in criticizing himself. Prior episodes focused on his poor navigational performance flying his bomber from Greenland to Nazi occupied France, in a gross navigational error, as well has his chronic airsickness. These events were documented in detail in Crosby's book, and very well depicted in this series.
So, if someone like Crosby was willing to document his warts in so many ways, it seems uncalled for to sully his memory without a credible source to back up the negative portrayal.
The other glaring error in this episode is that the first operational flights of the B-17G models were in mid August of 1943. In this episode, the action takes place in early March of 1944, nearly seven months later.
By this point of the ETO air war, there were not any more B-17F models operating in ETO frontline service. Bombers in this theater simply didn't last long, due to combat damage and rapid engine overhaul requirements. It was easier to simply replace worn out bombers with the many new arrivals, vice waste precious maintenance time on reclamation projects.
This was especially true given the B-17G corrected the one major defensive flaw in the Flying Fortress -- lack of forward firing guns to defend against the level and slightly low attacks from 12 O'clock.
To fix this flaw, the B-17G's featured a twin 50 cal turret at the bottom of the bombardier's nose glazing. This would have been the right episode to show that update in use. The series teasers have shown the G model in use, but for some strange reason the producers chose not to show it at its proper time in this episode.
Proof this was the correct episode to debut the G model is an iconic oil painting by Nicholas Trudgian depicting the 6 March 1944 mission flown against Berlin by the 100th BG -- the first mission shown in this episode. That painting correctly showed all the 100th BG aircraft as B-17G's in their initial olive drab and grey paint schemes.
In fact, the 100th BG started to receive B-17G's as early as they could be shipped to England, again in August 1943. The unit did fly mixed formations for the remainder of 1943 using the those F models that remained airworthy, but those older bombers were gone long before March 1944.
Keep in mind, the B-17G was produced in by far the highest numbers, and so by this point of the air war, new bomber arrivals allowed the 8th Air Force to more than keep up with combat losses in planes.
In sum, the POW scenes are the highlights of this episode and are quite well done. It's unfortunate other unforced errors dulled the overall presentation.
The POW scenes are excellent at capturing the raw sense of fear and boredom, as you realize you live at pretty much the whim of mostly poorly trained camp guards, many of whom concluded that if they shot a prisoner, the odds of them suffering any disciplinary action for it were very low.
This stands in sharp contrast to the producers' inexplicable decision to depict Harry Crosby in a very negative light, which is entirely fictional, as it relates to his relationship in country with the same British officer he met at the Oxford University conference.
This negative character development operates in sharp contrast to Crosby's book, where he makes it clear his relationship with this British officer was platonic. This platonic relationship was quite well produced in episode six. So, for the producers to go down a fictional path in this episode seems cringingly out of place.
There were plenty of other characters in this series to choose from to make this sort of romantic depiction, and considering most of the aircrew were not married, if the series wished to focus on the reality of American airmen and British women hooking up, then that's how it should have been portrayed.
The other reason is that Crosby, for his part in his autobiography, was unflinching in criticizing himself. Prior episodes focused on his poor navigational performance flying his bomber from Greenland to Nazi occupied France, in a gross navigational error, as well has his chronic airsickness. These events were documented in detail in Crosby's book, and very well depicted in this series.
So, if someone like Crosby was willing to document his warts in so many ways, it seems uncalled for to sully his memory without a credible source to back up the negative portrayal.
The other glaring error in this episode is that the first operational flights of the B-17G models were in mid August of 1943. In this episode, the action takes place in early March of 1944, nearly seven months later.
By this point of the ETO air war, there were not any more B-17F models operating in ETO frontline service. Bombers in this theater simply didn't last long, due to combat damage and rapid engine overhaul requirements. It was easier to simply replace worn out bombers with the many new arrivals, vice waste precious maintenance time on reclamation projects.
This was especially true given the B-17G corrected the one major defensive flaw in the Flying Fortress -- lack of forward firing guns to defend against the level and slightly low attacks from 12 O'clock.
To fix this flaw, the B-17G's featured a twin 50 cal turret at the bottom of the bombardier's nose glazing. This would have been the right episode to show that update in use. The series teasers have shown the G model in use, but for some strange reason the producers chose not to show it at its proper time in this episode.
Proof this was the correct episode to debut the G model is an iconic oil painting by Nicholas Trudgian depicting the 6 March 1944 mission flown against Berlin by the 100th BG -- the first mission shown in this episode. That painting correctly showed all the 100th BG aircraft as B-17G's in their initial olive drab and grey paint schemes.
In fact, the 100th BG started to receive B-17G's as early as they could be shipped to England, again in August 1943. The unit did fly mixed formations for the remainder of 1943 using the those F models that remained airworthy, but those older bombers were gone long before March 1944.
Keep in mind, the B-17G was produced in by far the highest numbers, and so by this point of the air war, new bomber arrivals allowed the 8th Air Force to more than keep up with combat losses in planes.
In sum, the POW scenes are the highlights of this episode and are quite well done. It's unfortunate other unforced errors dulled the overall presentation.