When the A-list cast of Masters of the air appeared in England in 2021 To start filming the epic Apple TV Plus miniseries, military advisor Taigh Ramey thought they at least had an idea small something about flying planes. But the actors, including stars like Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan, had virtually no idea how the iconic B-17 Flying Fortress actually worked.
“None of them had any idea about flying,” Ramey wrote on his personal website earlier this month Facebook page, “That was perfectly fine. I had to sit them in a chair and teach them the basics of flight controls and how they are used. They grabbed an imaginary steering wheel and stood with their feet on imaginary rudder pedals. They made sure to use the rudder first and then the aileron, as you would in a heavy tailwheel airplane.”
Those first few training sessions, Ramey said, were conducted in a partial replica of an original B-17 cockpit, which was supplied to the set by the builder, Dave Littleton. It was put together over more than twenty years and contained original parts and instruments from World War II. Nate Mann, who plays Major Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal, remembers it well.
“We had a brilliant military advisor in Taigh who flew these planes,” Mann told Polygon in a recent interview. “He was with us from start to finish, first he sat with us in the cockpit and told us how these gauges worked, how the switches worked.”
After his orientation flight, Mann said he took some quality time at home to study. His favorite classroom? The Venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator Xa mature platform with several B-17 options to choose from.
Then came the tests.
“(They) tested us to make sure we knew which button did what and when, and when to press it and how to do it,” Callum Turner told Polygon. “They dealt with this meticulously. And that was actually something that really helped us bond because there was a competitive spirit in it and no one wanted to be the worst. I don’t think anyone really cared about being the best, they just didn’t want to be the worst.”
From then on, the team was ready for their final on-screen flights in the Volume. The crew of Masters of the air invested in the same kind of live-action digital film set that helped bring it to life The Mandalorian, but with one big difference. Within the ring of high-definition digital “content walls” where the backdrops of these battle scenes would take place, they built a full-scale replica of the B-17’s forward crew compartment, from the bombardier station at the very front of the aircraft. to the radio operator in the back. They placed it all on a 50-foot hydraulic arm and then programmed it to put the actors through the wringer.
“We would be shooting a sequence and there could be six cameras filming it at any given time,” Mann said. ‘They called cut, and Taigh came on the walkie. (…) This time, flip this switch instead of that one, as that will turn this off. This is the spring order for this engineetc.
“What that does as an artist is keep your attention out,” Mann continued. “Especially when you’re masked (…) and only your eyes are visible, the sense of immersive quality takes you so far outside of yourself that you’re actually just trying to live through it, rather than performing, or guessing at the flying experience .”
Turner, who plays Major John “Bucky” Egan, said the extensive equipment, combined with the digital content in the Volume, was integral to his performance.
“The Volume is just an extraordinary experience because you’re not acting,” Turner said. “You just live, and be, and breathe, and explore the journey as it comes to you. And you can see it, and you can feel it. The days of the green screen are probably over with this technology. (…) They gave us everything to succeed. It was really a wonderful, wonderful thing to have.”
The result is an impeccable blend of computer-generated imagery, vintage props, modern set design and visceral human emotions – which you can see in this exclusive clip, starring Mann as Major Rosenthal from episode 5.
Masters of the air is now streaming on Apple TV Plus.