The war show so intense, the Air Force used it as actual training footage.
Season 3 • Episode 17
LatestCommodore Leon Crompton is the leader of USN Task Force 10. His job is to find and sink Wolf Pack Laika , 8 German u-boats operating off the Azores. The 918th is assigned under Gallagher as the Hunter portion of the team and Compton's ships will be the killers. Gallagher assigns 9 B-17's , Cromptons force is 4 DD's, 1 CVE Flights of three searching, Gallagher's get attacked. Two bombers are shot down. On the next mission Gallagher carries bombs, carrier sunk bombers sink subs. He gets shot down, picked up by Destroyer. Gallagher is wounded and goes home on Crompton's new flag ship.
This series chronicles the adventures--in the air and on the ground--of the men of the 918th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. First commanded by irascible General Frank Savage--and later by Colonel Joe Gallagher, the son of a Pentagon General--the Group is stationed in England, and flies long-range bombing missions into German-held Europe.
Acting
Frank Overton's thousand-yard stare haunts.
Direction
Combat footage shot in actual B-17s.
Writing
Savage's breakdown episode: television's first PTSD portrait.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Pentagon initially sponsored production for recruitment, then pulled support when episodes got too bleak about command stress.
This series invented the 'competence porn' war drama template later copied by everything from Band of Brothers to The Bear.
US
