Masters of the Air Episode 4 ends with a jaw-dropping development: Buck and his men were downed on the mission to Bremen – but did he die?
In the first episode, Buck’s inaugural mission with the 100th was a disaster. Men were killed in spades, burned alive, and blown to bits as their planes were torn apart by enemy gunfire and flak, and they didn’t drop a single “damn bomb.”
Encouraged by the results from the bombing run on Regensburg and Schweinfurt, the “largest and costliest” mission to date, the top brass give the go-ahead for another flight to Bremen in a bid to hit the U-boat pens.
Meanwhile, Bucky is off on a weekend pass to London, but he cuts his trip short after hearing the news about Buck – so, is he dead? Likely spoilers for the rest of the series to follow…
Did Buck die in Masters of the Air?
No, Buck isn’t dead. However, his plane was downed in Masters of the Air Episode 4, and we’ll catch up with him later in the series.
This is your last chance to stop reading if you don’t want to find out what happened to Gale Cleven in real life, as it’s expected to be recreated in the show.
As detailed on Cleven’s profile on the 100th Bomb Group Foundation’s website, Buck and his men were forced to bail after enemy fire caused “considerable” damage. “I left the ship at about two thousand feet landing approximately five to ten miles northeast of Osnabruck surrounded by irate farmers,” he recounted.
He was taken to a Luftwaffe station alongside Bernard DeMarco (Adam Long). This kicked off a long journey, traveling through Munster, Essen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, and eventually arriving at Frankfurt. They were held in solitary confinement on the outskirts of the city before they were dumped onto freight cars heading to Stalag Luft III in Żagań, a prisoner-of-war camp.
It’s unclear when we’ll see Austin Butler’s character again in the show – but we will, don’t worry.
Masters of the Air Episodes 1-4 are streaming on Apple TV+, which you can sign up for here.