Masters of the Air is a 9 episode dramatization of the 2007 book by Donald L Miller, which is about the 100th Bomb Group flying as part of the US 8th Air Force in WWII.

There are three major characters, all pretty much present from beginning to end: Gale "Buck" Cleven (Austin Butler, who I just saw in Dune: Part Two playing Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen) and John "Bucky" Egan, both good friends and B-17 bomber pilots; and Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle), navigator on a B-17 and later group navigator so he stayed behind in HQ.

For the first two they go on missions, Bucky is promoted to group commander, Buck and his bomber go missing, Bucky is shot down and ends up in a POW camp with Buck. So through them (and others) we get to see bombing missions and fending off German fighters (quite exciting sequences but really only see a lot of action one or two episodes) then life as a prisoner in a Luftwaffe POW camp (enemy airmen got put into camps run by the German air force, which was significantly laxer than a the German army or SS) to eventually liberation.

Crosby's journey is different as he is England most of the series. You get a bit more of the HQ stuff. He has an affair with a British WAC. He's wracked with guilt as he sees his friends go missing.

There is maybe half an episode focusing on the 99th fighter squadron, the Tuskegee Airmen. Three are shot down in a mission and end up in the same POW camp with Buck and Bucky.

My biggest problem with the series is all the characters that are in varied places and the narrative is rather fragmented. The bombers fighting their way through scenes are great and for the most part the CGI is good but I guess the last half of the series doesn't really have good bomber combat scenes.

Overall I liked the series and it started out strong but kind of tailed off as the series progressed.