In conjunction with the release of the highly-anticipated Apple TV+ series, Masters of the Air, VBC historian host Glenn Flickinger talks with five expert historians about the what we may see and what they’ll be looking for in the series.

Steve Snyder is author of Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth. Through personal letters, oral and written accounts, declassified military documents, and interviews, the book recounts the dramatic experiences of each member of a ten man B-17 bomber crew after their plane, piloted by the author’s father, was knocked out of the sky by German fighters over the French/Belgian border on February 8,1944.

Colin Heaton, author of Above the Reich and many others books, has interviewed hundreds of participants in the Air War over many years on all sides. His work comprise one of the greatest catalogues of Air War first-hand accounts in the world.

Robert Ehlers is a retired Air Force colonel with 24 years of service as an intelligence officer. He has a Ph.D. in history and has served as the Director of the new Center for Security Studies and Professor of Security Studies at Angelo State University. He is the author of Targeting the Third Reich: Air Intelligence and the Allied Bombing Campaigns; The Mediterranean Air War: Airpower and Allied Victory in World War II, and the  edited work Technology, Violence, and War: Essays in Honor of Dr. John F. Guilmartin Jr.

Kevin Maurer is an award-winning journalist and author of nine books, including three New York Times bestsellers. His books include the massively successful No Easy Day, the inside story of the Bin Laden raid, co-written with former Navy SEAL Mark Owen. His latest book is Damn Lucky, the true story of a World War II bomber pilot John “Lucky” Luckadoo, who survived twenty-five missions as part of the Bloody Hundredth.

David Fairbank White studied history at Harvard, worked as a reporter for The New York Times, and has written for national magazines including Fortune, New York, Parade, and Reader’s Digest. With his wife Margaret, the is author of Wings of War. The book tells the incredible, untold story behind the rise of the P-51 Mustang, the World War II fighter plane that destroyed the Luftwaffe and made D-Day possible.