When the creators of “Masters of the Air” were wrapping up the epic television series depicting the exploits of American B-17 crews over European skies during World War II, they made a trek to Alabama to make sure they nailed the story.

Kirk Saduski, documentarian and producer for Playtone Productions, and screenwriter John Orloff came to Montgomery’s Maxwell Air Force Base last October to speak with Air University students and faculty about the process of adapting history into film.

“When you spend so much time on one topic, study it and envision it, you have a certain vision in your mind, so when you actually visit what you’ve studied, it rings more true,” Saduski said. “So, to be at Maxwell airfield, which is the cradle of the Air Force, it’s beautiful.”

“Masters of the Air,” which premiered on Apple TV+ in January, recounts the harrowing story of the 100^th Bomb Group, a heavy bomber unit in the U.S. Eighth Air Force that flew countless dangerous missions over Europe during World War II.

It’s no surprise the creators were drawn to Maxwell, which has long played a crucial role in the education, training and development of Air Force personnel and continues to be a cornerstone of military excellence and innovation.

Maxwell is home to Air University, the U.S. Air Force’s center for professional military education that also supports research and development of military strategies.

Documentarian and senior executive producer Kirk Saduski and screenwriter John Orloff for the ‘Masters of the Air’ television series speak with Air Command and Staff College students and faculty at Alabama’s Maxwell Air Force Base about the critical roles both then-Maxwell Field and Air University’s predecessor, the Air Corps Tactical School, played in the development of high-altitude daylight precision bombing doctrine during World War II. (Air University)

The Alabama base is where the doctrine of high-altitude daylight precision bombing used during the war and depicted in “Masters of the Air” was developed in the early 1930s.

“The strategic bombing campaign allowed the Eighth Air Force and Allies to eventually gain air superiority over the continent, thereby disrupting German logistics and enabling the invasion of mainland Europe on D-Day,” said Lt. Col. Matt Ziemann with the Air Command and Staff College Department of Leadership.

“The opportunity for them to talk to our students about a book being turned into a visually compelling story — there’s a lot to be learned from that,” said Ziemann, who was instrumental in bringing the series creators to Maxwell.

The miniseries is based on the 2007 book by the same name written by Donald Miller, who also trekked to Montgomery for research purposes.

In the process of writing “Masters of the Air,” Miller conducted around two months of extensive period research at Maxwell’s Air Force Historical Research Agency, which serves as the long-term “institutional memory” of the Department of the Air Force.

The agency provided detailed mission reports, lost bomber and aircrew reports, before-and-after high-resolution aerial photos of targets and hundreds of pages of documentation.

When the TV series premiered in January, Air University and the Air Command and Staff College hosted the families of World War II heroes for a special screening of the first two episodes at Maxwell.

“Masters of the Air” also contained another strong Alabama connection. It included segments depicting the Tuskegee Airmen, the pioneering African American fighter pilots who received flight training at nearby Tuskegee.

Source material: Airman 1st Class Tyrique Barquet, Air University Public Affairs

This story previously appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website.