The Bloody Hundredth

Mark Herzog's 2024 documentary presents the real crews of the 100th Bomb Group, the unit behind the series Masters of the Air. Tom Hanks narrates; Hanks and Steven Spielberg are behind the production, and the film is plainly designed as a companion piece to the show. Testimony from surviving veterans, among them John Luckadoo, takes the casualty rate of daylight bombing missions in the Second World War out of the realm of abstract numbers. The value lies in the archive and the testimony; conversations with the last members of that generation are put on record. The film asks nothing about the war itself, though: the civilian toll of the bombing in German cities and the wider argument over strategic bombing never come up. As commemoration it is strong, as history it is incomplete. Who it's for: viewers interested in the air war of the Second World War and in veteran testimony. Who it's not for: anyone expecting the ethical argument about strategic bombing, or wary of productions that double as promotion for a series.