Aviation advisers who are associated with a new World War II mini-series, created by Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks, visited Lincolnshire in England. Lincolnshire has a history of working with the US Army Air Force.
Speilberg and Hanks created the Mighty Eighth, which is a mini-series consisting of 10 parts and it is the third part of the trilogy which includes Band of Brothers and Pacific. The Masters of The Air, the companion piece to Band of Brothers and The Pacific, changed its name sometime in the process to The Mighty Eighth. It is a great thing this happened, and the title is quite suitable since there was no better force in the war than the Eighth Air Force.
In the new series, people will get familiar with daylight bomber raids conducted by American forces over Nazi Germany. The planes took off from the bases in Norfolk and Suffolk that are on the east coast of England. Currently, we don’t know how much of the action will be filmed in the United Kingdom, but the authorities in Lincolnshire insist for their location to be used since they were linked to the USAAF in the war. Around 30,000 US servicemen were in the Grantham during the war, and they were preparing for D-Day at this spot. North Witham was the place from which Pathfinder parachutists of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division took off and became the first Americans to land in Normandy on D-Day.
The show is based on the book called Masters of the Air, written by Don Miller. John Orloff is the scriptwriter, and the two of them are exploring Lincolnshire and the sites that are linked to the USAAF. Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire organized this tour. The two men visited the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and they were there for the launch of The Friendly Invasion. This is a new tourism package which is intended to draw more and more tourists from the USA to explore these places that are related to their history.
According to Miller, the average age of a US crewman was 24, and the survival rate was 11 missions. As for the series, The Mighty Eighth is supposed to be aired in 2019. Currently, the crew is discussing whether they should film in Lincolnshire or not. In 1942, so many American aviators arrived in this place that they called it the “Friendly Invasion.” RAF Gloxhill was one of the first airfields that the USAAF received, and the Americans started calling it Station 345. It was used as the base for the First Fighter Group, including the 71st Fighter Squadron and the 94th Fighter Squadron with P-38 Lightning.
Miller says that the new series will focus on the camaraderie and the bonding inside the bombers, which means that it will be similar to Band of Brothers. These fighters were affectionately called The Mighty Eighth because their service and reputation quickly became familiar across the old continent and even the people in the USA heard of their heroic acts.
They managed to launch thousands of bombers in just one mission. On the night of 19-20 February, the Eighth Air Force put up over 1,000 B-17s and B-24s, and with more than 800 fighters, they attacked Germany, inflicting serious damage to the Nazi machinery. 17 members of the Mighty Eight received the Medal of Honor, but the crew also had the record of 220 Distinguished Service Crosses and 850 Silver Stars.
Besides the death and destruction by high-altitude bombing of Nazi Germany, the series will also focus on the personal stories of the crew.
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Source: warhistoryonline.com
