Executive Producer Gary Goetzman and Captain Dale Dye | Making Masters of the Air

The National WWII Museum's Making Masters of the Air podcast dives deeper into the making of Masters of the Air and explores the history behind the new Apple TV+ series. The Making Masters of the Air podcast is co-hosted by Playtone’s Kirk Saduski and Donald Miller, author of the book Masters of the Air.
In this episode, Kirk Saduski and Donald Miller discuss Episode 4 of Masters of the Air. Plus, Saduski sits down with executive producer Gary Goetzman and Captain Dale Dye, military adviser on the set of the series.
Based on the best-selling book by Donald Miller, Masters of the Air is an Apple Original series from the executive producers of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Now streaming on Apple TV+.
Special thanks to Apple TV+ for clips and musical score for this podcast.
Topics Covered in This Episode:
• The Eighth Air Force
• 100th Bomb Group
• Captain Dale Dye
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
FEATURED GUEST: GARY GOETZMAN
Gary Goetzman is an Emmy Award-winning producer and the co-founder of Playtone Productions with actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks. Goetzman is an executive producer on the Apple Original series Masters of the Air, as well as HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
FEATURED GUEST: CAPTAIN DALE DYE
Captain Dale Dye (USMC RET) is a veteran of the Vietnam War. After his service, Dye founded the leading military consultancy to motion pictures and television. His firm has worked on more than 50 movies and TV shows including several Academy Award- and Emmy-winning productions, including Saving Private Ryan, HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific, and the Apple Original series Masters of the Air.
CO-HOST: DONALD MILLER, PhD
Best-selling author and historian Donald Miller, PhD, is well known to friends and members of The National WWII Museum for his works such as Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany; D-Days in the Pacific; and The Story of World War II.
CO-HOST: KIRK SADUSKI
Playtone executive and producer Kirk Saduski was the executive-in-charge for HBO’s Band of Brothers, co-producer of HBO’s The Pacific, and co-producer of Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air.
About Making Masters of the Air
From the executive producers of Band of Brothers and The Pacific comes Masters of the Air, a new series from Apple TV+ following the airmen of the 100th Bombardment Group during World War II. Join The National WWII Museum each week for the Making Masters of the Air podcast to dive deeper into the making of Masters of the Air and explore the history behind the series. Hear from special guests from the series as you get to know the American bomber crews who risked it all fighting the air war over Europe and forged a brotherhood through courage, loss, and triumph. The Making Masters of the Air podcast by The National WWII Museum is co-hosted by Playtone’s Kirk Saduski and Donald Miller, author of the book Masters of the Air.
The National WWII Museum's Making Masters of the Air podcast is presented by Boeing.

[@davidk7324]

“It was the right thing to do in a world at war.” Dale Dye. This is what it comes down to -- the foundation for a generation that answered the call through enlisting, being drafted, or accepting a commission. Thank you for this.

[@terjel777]

Truly. What we consider extraordinary was what these people felt was the least they could do.

[@christiancruz4533]

Wow !!!! No wonder why the show its a masterpiece! All this care and attention to detail. ❤

[@janicebrowningaquino792]

It is IMPOSSIBLE to express just how fabulous the music is!! The opening score brings on tears every time because it conveys so clearly just what these crews went through during WWII. Thank You so much for this WONDERFUL series!!!

[@davidlavigne207]

I really appreciate the insights from Donald Miller as to the way he tried to internalize the persons portrayed in the book and the film. As for Captain Dye and his team, I am proud of the way he has helped us understand the realities of the concept of sacrifice of individuality that was required to accomplish the missions portrayed by the actors. Having been a US Army Aviation Maintainer for over thirty years, I can relate to the US Army Air Corps enlisted as he trained the actors to portray. After all the US Air Force, as it became, adopted many of these traditions from the US Army Air Corps, as the US Army continues to use unto today. It is exactly what we came to understand: It is a team effort and the whole effort is to provide the aircraft availability to allow the aircrews to do their work. We knew that they were the "Star running backs" while we were kind of the "Line of Scrimmage" providing them the spotlight. The aircrews always acknowledged our efforts. We always felt pride in their accomplishments, as well as in ours. They were our heroes as we were theirs. There is the "Band of Brothers" connection that I hope viewers will come to see. Captain Dye gets it, and I would have been glad to have served with him had I had the opportunity. Well done by all from Producer on down to the least of the production crew!

[@conniecooley5542]

I loved the musical theme song. Just haunting!

[@christiancruz4533]

F*** what a line. The best line in the hole series. " and bryan...i want to pitch" ...❤

[@4dmind]

The new series is shaping up to be of a quality that stands next to the previous two series. And whatever was paid for musical theme was worth ever penny - can't get that song out of my head.

[@conniecooley5542]

I think everything looked great!!! What a wonderful tribute to these brave men.

[@fitycalibre7555]

I’ll be honest. I’m watching on my tv and I think the CG looks great. I think people’s issue is more with the color pallete. The other shoes and war movies in general are much darker. Whereas this is much brighter

[@tonetriv]

I too have no issues with the CGI.

[@christiancruz4533]

❤

[@richardbennett1856]

The anti aircraft was overdone. It was as dangerous as it was. Believing Boeings sales pitch with political directives, doomed many of USAAF aircraft. Attacking vauge targets far away from escorting fighters resulted in unsustainable losses in early. 8th AF missions. It's interesting that ports and the power grid were not given the attention that cities and factories had. THE BOMBER ALWAYS GETS THOUGH doctrine was what killed so many.

[@BuddyMcNugget]

I am loving this show. Band of Bros and The Pacific were also great. I hope you guys do a more naval focused show at some point. Greyhound is a fantastic movie but i want MORE!!!!

[@davidk7324]

Agree completely. The Navy's story in the PTO is the last great chapter for Hanks/Spielberg to tell. A thread each on a destroyer, submarine, and carrier. With the landings only as framing tools.

[@davidkimmel4216]

Thank You Captain 😊

[@regannem]

Loved Gary Goetzman in Yours, Mine and Ours!

[@sinisterbohemian]

1:00:36 - This is something that I feel like is entirely foreign to the majority of people today. The idea that you need to accept the fact that you are not important. So many people feel like they have to be the main character they can't fathom the idea of doing something as a part of a unit where you probably won't be recognized for your individual actions.

[@richardbennett1856]

Many thanks to Gary, Tony To, and Seilberg /Hanks dream team for the story, accuracy and action scenes. Big props to Captain Dye, and the Natonal WW2 Museum.

[@rollingthunder4]

Gable's footage was used in the one-hour documentary Combat America.

[@JackNorman]

He mentions losing a testicle as an injury. Funny enough As we did IED sweeps or highway patrols in Iraq that was a huge worry. I remember thinking ill wear two crotch protectors. I had totally forgot about that until the show aired.

[@tonycutty598]

The CG isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and the majesty of the massed air fleets was pretty well represented. But I do get the impression, as a Pilot myself, that the CGI bods haven't really seen a real aeroplane close up, nor how they maneuver in the sky, nor how they behave when you do certain things with them. One example would be the well-worn idea of making fighters look more aggressive by making them move their wings in little waggling motions. Any action in the air like that has consequences, which are ignored. Watching Wyler's 'Memphis Belle - the Story of a Flying Fortress', the formations of B-17s look as if they are set in crystal. Sadly that was not duplicated as well as it could have been in MotA. They were still majestic, though. Another thing is the relative speeds of the aircraft in the air, especially with the fighters. Sometimes the fighters are depicted as being almost invisible, they are going that fast, but sometimes not (and I'm not referring to 'bullet time' or whatever it's called nowadays!) yet from the same attack angle. And yet somehow they still manage to simulate the frantic horror of air combat despite the discrepanceis. I just wish that some day, the flying sequences could be supervised by people who really know what it's like up there. 'No, not like that, like this: I have control!'

[@cliffbard9890]

Got an observation. Towards the end of the episode, Bubbles walks up to the flight tower and asks if Croz made it back and the CO says no. Then in episode 5 Croz is there and no explanation of how he got back. Can anyone explain this observation? TIA

[@johnsowerby7182]

Croz and his crew end up at an RAF base, I believe. You see them arrive back at the base and they walk into the party in the mess...

[@tonetriv]

Crozier even explained that there was no phone at the RAF base they landed at. And that's exactly the same way he wrote about it in his book.

[@fitycalibre7555]

Find it very interesting that people conveniently leave out the parts of the 2 other shows with extremely “distracting cgi.” And for anyone trying to compare this CG (which is just fine) and top gun. I think that they hyped up the fact that it was all real planes before they released the movie is what fooled people. Also the fact that it has a movie budget. Not a TV show budget

[@rankoorovic7904]

Do you plan to make an episode about operation Halyard?Or you maybe did it and i din't see it 😀

[@Dezzasheep]

Sadly I think the CGI is the weakest part of the show... Costumes, acting, locations and set are all fantastic.

[@brianng3700]

I agree. Everything is fantastic but the cgi just isn’t polished enough. Very distracting that I have to watch it on my phone instead of a big tv unfortunately.

[@Dezzasheep]

@@brianng3700 I appreciate that there's a hell of a lot of CGI compared to a standard movie, so budgets have to be stretched. But compare MotA with say topgun 2. There's an incredible amount of visual effects (including CGI aircraft) in that film which most people mistake for live action. So it can be done. The aerial effects aren't too bad, its the examples on the ground which I find most jarring. e.g. B17s sitting on the pans looked very 'uncanny valley'. Its a little disappointing considering the standard of modern visual effects, but the overall show is epic and im really enjoying it so far.

[@STormnNormn2027]

The cgi looks great, so if it’s the weakest part that speaks to how top notch everything else is.

[@avidediter66]

Not sure what you expect. It conveys what it needs to.

[@Dezzasheep]

@@avidediter66 erm...try to sell "it's adequate, what do you expect?" in the creative industry. You won't get far.

[@grenadespoon]

They sure like to congratulate themselves. I think the results are more important than the process to get there. Through episode 4 it seems lukewarm so far.

[@graemegreen2165]

I read Crosby's book as I watched the episodes. Crosby book gave the characters the depth and the episodes the continuity I needed