Masters of the Air Episode 8 recap: The Red Tails arrive

❘ Updated: 2024-03-08T08:00:00

Ncuti Gatwa in Masters of the Air Episode 8

Apple TV+

Masters of the Air Episode 8 picks up with Buck and Bucky plotting an escape from Stalag Luft III, but they’re joined by the Tuskegee Airmen after a mission goes wrong – here’s a recap of what happened.

After our favorite 100th majors reunited, Episode 7 followed Buck and Bucky as they tried to make sense of their new surroundings in the POW camp. It was looking pretty bleak: they were eating watery broth with gristly bits of stray cat, the Germans had executed 50 escapees (this was the true story of The Great Escape, the 100th just weren’t involved), and their chances of getting home alive seemed increasingly slim.

Meanwhile, Crosby’s relationship with Sandra Wesgate – whose true role in the war remains a mystery – escalated, and Rosie completed his 25th mission. However, instead of going home, he “re-upped” and was given a C.O. position. “I can’t go home, not yet. Not until the job is done, one way or another,” he said.

Masters of the Air Episode 8 marks the long-awaited arrival of the Tuskegee Airmen as the 100th try to figure out how they can make it back to the UK.

The Tuskegee Airmen are here

We open on the outskirts of Rome on June 1, 1944. “While the 8th Air Force was hitting the Germans from bases in England, the 15th Air Force was striking at them from bases in Italy. The 99th Pursuit Squadron was part of that effort. They were known as the Tuskegee Airmen,” Crosby narrates.

The planes circle their target and pull off direct hits before heading back to base to mark the 99th getting through a whopping 500 missions. But Alexander Jefferson doesn’t look as happy as his fellow men, even when his captain tells him he’s got every right to celebrate. “Fine work out there, as usual… am I gonna have to court-martial you into taking a sip of that beer,” he’s told. “You’re a clever fella Alex, but don’t let smart be the enemy of happy,” the captain adds.

The squadron starts singing, “Tuskegee’s up again.” Alex goes outside with the captain to ask when they’re getting into “some heavier action.” The captain reveals there’s been discussions of missions in Europe, with the 96th getting to fly in P-51s to Munich in the coming week. “It’s hard when some of our guys are already out there,” Alex says. “You didn’t wash out… so now don’t burn yourself out. Everything in its own order,” the captain replies.

D-Day approaches – and a spy is revealed

Sandra Wesgate in Masters of the Air Episode 8

Over at Stalag Luft III, Bucky’s mind is going; Buck finds him in the middle of a patch of mud recreating a baseball game on his own. “Me and the guys were wondering what the score is,” Buck says, before asking him if he’s okay. “Well, I’m great, is the truth. I’ve been here for eight months now. Still trapped, still cold, still eating scraps, and we keep waiting for something to happen even though it doesn’t,” Bucky says.

As Buck points out, it could be worse: they could be dead. “At least that I could stand,” Bucky replies. He wants to stage an escape – but 50 Brits were just executed for trying to flee. “We have to be patient,” Buck insists.

Back at Thorpe Abbotts, it’s three days until D-Day. Crosby is woken by his alarm just before 6am, marking the beginning of 72 hours without sleep. “Our job was to bomb the German defenses in Normandy only minutes before the landing craft hit the beaches, and then spend the day hitting German bridges, railroads, and communication lines further inland. About 200 missions in total, all needing flight plans and maps,” he explains.

After 24 hours, he’s doing okay. “The second breakfast on the second day, that’s when the fight starts,” he narrates, as we see him struggling to keep his composure. He’s been trying to call Sandra, but he’s not been able to reach her. “It was like she vanished,” he says – and he’s right, in a sense. The episode cuts to her in Paris, incognito among those on a bus. She’s confronted by a German soldier and asked for her papers, which he throws back in her face. Of course she’s a spy!

Crosby tries to stay awake. “Coffee isn’t enough” by the second afternoon of the second day, so gets caffeine pills from the doctor. After 60 hours, “the mind starts playing tricks on you,” but he keeps going. Just when he thinks he’s done, he’s given five more “high-priority targets… the lack of sleep, the coffee, the uppers, the stress, the fear, the disconnect, that’s a drug in itself.”

He gets to 64 hours, and at this point, he’s trying to survive “breath by breath… step by step.” Jack orders him to go to sleep, and as Crosby insists he keeps going, he collapses in the middle of the room.

Meanwhile, Sandra slickly walks around Paris, investigating Nazis before slinking into her secret HQ. She’s told she’s heading off to her next assignment: a train station in Le Bec-Hellouin.

D-Day arrives

June 6, 1944: D-Day. With Col. Bennett re-assigned to the 395th, Rosie takes up his position as a new commanding officer. “We’re a few hours away from the invasion of Europe,” he announces, sparking cheers among the men. “Any last words of wisdom, sir?” one of them asks as they stand on the airstrip. “No, I don’t have any last words because I’m gonna see you again. Just take off, do your job, you land, and then you’re gonna be giving me some words of wisdom. Each flight is its own lesson,” he says.

At the POW camp, Bucky overhears Buck and other men digging up a tree. With the ground dried up, they may be able to set wood alight and keep themselves warm. “Take a break, let’s play some ball,” Bucky shouts, but the men aren’t interested. “Either pitch in or knock it off,” one of them tells him, but before Bucky gets his hands on him, Buck throws him on the ground.

“You ain’t gonna help, stay out of the way,” he tells his pal. “You’re new king of the camp and I’m just in the way. Oh King Cleven says, ‘No baseball, just work, work, work.’ That’s all he wants to do,” Bucky says, before taunting him into a fight. Before it goes any further, the “Krauts get some bad news” – the invasion has officially begun.

We return to the Tuskegee Airmen, where Macon is showing off a photo of his sweetheart back home: a 23-acre patch of land with loblolly pine. Meanwhile, Col. Davis refuses to toast the success of Munich, as bombers were still lost. “Take a look around this room, you see what I see?” he says. “I see too many second lieutenants. First lieutenants. On mission counts alone, I see men who should already be captains, majors, and we both know why they’re not and we both know why they may never be,” he says. “Can’t change the weather, colonel. We’ll just get better at charting new courses,” the captain responds.

Crosby wakes up in his bed with Rosie by his side. He panics and searches for his trousers, before the penny drops. “It’s 7:39 Saturday morning,” Rosie reveals: Crosby slept through the whole thing for three days. During that time, Rosie has been up in the air three times. “The clouds parted… and you’ve never seen anything like it. Hundreds of ships, thousands of men, for the third time that day we hit bridges, rail yards, communication centers, so the Germans weren’t able to bring up any reinforcements,” he explains.

“And the best part? There wasn’t a single Luftwaffe fighter in the air. The skies were ours. All from the routes you plotted, Harry. Are my daring tales of heroism not daring enough for you, Captain Marvel?” he then asks. “I just can’t believe I missed it,” Crosby responds.

Two months later

August 1944: Buck is listening to updates about the conflict on his radio. It’s turned into a “two-front war”, with Americans, Brits, and other allies flooding Europe. “The Krauts will slaughter us before they let us go,” Bucky warns, and the colonel predicts they may be marched out of the camp to “somewhere deeper in the Reich” like Bavaria before the Russians find them. They’re leverage, so they need to start preparing for three scenarios: mass execution, forced march, or pitched battle.

The Tuskegee Airmen are told they’re flying to France for Operation Dragoon in three days. “Marseilles, Saint-Tropez, Toulon. Each critical landing points for our incoming forces. Now, we will have the manpower to prevail, but if and only if we knock out their eyes. German radar detection systems are mounted all along here. We are gonna take them all out in phased, aggressive strafing runs,” they’re told.

Macon raises a valid point: there’s barely any margin for error with regard to the planes’ fuel capacity. “This is gonna be close, but it’s not impossible,” he’s told. “You use every drop of gas in your wing tanks. Try to make it back to friendly territory some place. We’re gonna give you IDs so if the Germans don’t get you as soon as you land, you can be someone else, and you might be able to blend in with the population. Are we Tuskegee men or what?”

Soon, they’re in the skies and aiming straight for France. One of the men’s tanks initially won’t drop, but Macon helps him figure it out. After getting back into formation, they fly through German flak and approach their target. Westbrook is shot down and doesn’t bail before crashing into the water, while Gordon’s plane twirls down in a fiery blaze. Soon enough, most of the planes are downed, and the Germans round up all the pilots they can find; this includes Daniels, Macon, and Jefferson. Macon is in pretty bad shape, but the men try to help him.

Stalag Luft III gets a shake-up

A new SS commandant arrives at the camp. Bucky says they need to get in shape and “ready to fight”, organizing exercise regimes that won’t cause any suspicion.

The captured Tuskegee Airmen arrive at Dulag Luft, a transit camp for POWs. Jefferson has a cigarette with his interrogator, but that’s all. Just like Bucky, he repeats his name, position, and serial number. “I feel like I already know you,” the German says, revealing knowledge of private details about his father’s employment at the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company, before highlighting the racism preventing any sort of lucrative career in the US.

He quizzes all of the men on their targets and other details regarding their missions, while weaving in anecdotes about Detroit, music, and other American observations, such as “the place in Los Angeles where all you Blacks are forced to live… why do you fight for a country that treats you like that?”

“Do you know any other country that’s better? I know what my country’s shortcomings are, and I know it’s trying hard to become what it says it’s supposed to be. And when I get back, I’m gonna help them do that a lot faster,” Macon tells him.

Soon, they’re taken to Stalag Luft III; men behind fences are either pointing out they’re Red Tails or that they “belong somewhere else.” Macon is carried in by his men, and he thinks he looks like a cripple. “You look like a goddamn soldier,” Daniels tells him. Moments later, they’re greeted by men who tell them they “saved their asses” more times than they can count, before offering a hand to get Macon somewhere more comfortable.

That night, as Buck plays cards with his men, Jefferson and Macon introduce themselves. “Gentlemen, welcome to paradise,” Buck tells them, before continuing his game.

Crosby is given a month off for all his great work. “We need you functional, we need you to get a real vacation; proper R&R. You’re too important to us. Is that clear?” he’s told, so he tries to get in touch with Sandra. “Captain Wesgate is not available,” a woman tells him over the phone, without providing any other details, so he asks her to let Sandra know he’s going back home for a while.

Buck and Jefferson team up

Jefferson and Buck in Masters of the Air Episode 8

Back at the camp, the Tuskegee men are figuring out how to escape; in their eyes, if they recruit some help, they can make it to friendly territory in three weeks. “What do you think of them?” Bucky asks Buck. “I don’t think anything of them,” he says. “Well, maybe we should,” Bucky tells him.

That night, as Jefferson (who is a dab hand at art) and Macon try to relax in their bunks, they float the idea of talking to Buck. Jefferson chats to him the next day, talking about Buck’s original aspiration to be a fighter pilot and building model planes as a young boy. Jefferson then hands him a book (The Moon and the Sixpence) which has a significant piece of paper inside: a detailed route if they try to escape. “We could use your help… we can’t just stay sitting ducks,” Buck tells him, asking for help “charting the area to get out of here.”

“Back on that first day, all the guys looked to you. You got the final say. Why didn’t you gripe about us bunking in eight?” Jefferson asks. “Well, let’s just say, I at least knew you weren’t spies,” Buck replies, and they both laugh. New allies are officially formed, so the men go full-speed ahead on their efforts, learning how to overpower the Germans while they figure out where they’d go if they managed to get out.

Crosby believes he’s going to meet Sandra at a hotel, but all he finds is a letter in a book. “Sorry Croz, I’ve been called away once again… probably for the better. You belong with Jean, and we’ve still got a war to win. I’ll always remember our time together fondly. Love, Sandra,” it reads.

In lieu of his overseas affair, he decides to return to New York for a few weeks. “It’ll be good for you,” Rosie tells him, and asks if he’s excited to see Jean. Crosby is worried things won’t be the same (especially considering he’s fallen in love with someone else). Meanwhile, Buck learns over the radio that the Russians have crossed into Germany. “They’re close, really really close,” he says.

Masters of the Air Episodes 1-8 are streaming on Apple TV+, which you can sign up for here. You can also check out our other coverage below:

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