Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1517535
7 2 P E R S P E C T I V E | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 2 4 Reading Scripts After reading a script for the first time, it's not unusual to be met with the question of "How the hell are we going to pull this one off?" Getting started with Masters of the Air, this feeling was very much present due to the volume of the material, the sensitivity of the subject and the highly specific locations that that needed to be recreated. The scripts struck me with their attention to detail, and I was determined to deliver the sets with the highest level of authenticity and historical accuracy. It was an exciting challenge to undertake the responsibility of creating a world for the young airmen of the 100th Bombardment Group, with the backdrop of a forgotten rural Suffolk, England, in the year 1943. Thorpe Abbotts, the series' primary set, was among the hundred airbases being built or modified to accommodate the USAAF and their "Flying Fortresses"—the Boeing B-17s. Having grown up in East Anglia, I have a personal connection to the region, so the initial research phase was particularly fascinating for me. During a visit to the small museum at the remains of Thorpe Abbotts, I had the privilege of meeting one of the curators—a man who, as a boy, witnessed the arrival of the USAAF to the airfield. He shared his account of the day the B-17s landed: "They were like spaceships coming from the sky, piloted by aircrews U . S . F l y e r s i n W o r l d W a r T w o M A S T E R S O F T H E A I R B Y C H R I S S E A G E R S , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A. THORPE ABBOTTS HARDSTANDS. CONCEPT ART BY DERMOT POWER. A