I'd think if you were going to make a series about the airwar similar to Band of Brothers, you'd probably need do do it with a bomber crew and possibly a bomber squadron. And if you are going to get folks to watch it consistently beyond the history buffs, you'd probably need to make it and ETO based 8th AF bunch.
Using the 447th BG as an example that trained in 43, and got to England at the end of 43. Flew their first missions in 44 before the escorts and kept going until May of 45.
Episode 1-Coming together: The crews are assigned and start their training at the stateside base in Nebraska. Get to know a few of the crews well, understand the role each plays etc. Deal with the relationships with family, get to know a couple ground crews, how the crews see themselves prior to combat, goodbyes as they leave for the flight over, and show a bit of what the flights were like as they flew the northern route to England.
Episode 2-England. Getting to their base, meeting the Brits, initial training and orientation to the conditions in the ETO, maybe a first loss in training so death is up close but not combat. Finish up with the briefing for their first combat mission.
Episode 3-First Combat-A chance to go further into how it was forming up over England, as it could be chaos. Maybe a run to a shorter target in France and possibly seeing their first combat loss.
-Episode 4-The Grind. Mission after mission. Show the consistant losses, wear and tear on the crews, the ground crews, the planes etc. Have the viewer just as tired at the end of watching it as the crews. maybe have a crew have to go into the Channel and introduce the air sea rescue stuff.
-Episode 5-Flak Happy-Time to send a crew or two to the Flak Shack or off to explore England on Leave. Time for the wartime love interests, meeting the locals, exploring how each man dealt with the effects of combat, how it impacted on different crews.
-Episode 6-Escorts-Time to introduce the fighter boys a bit, both the RAF and USAAF. Maybe someone's brother is with the 8th Fighter Command. Show how the escorts impacted on the missions for the bomber guys.
-Episode 7-Shot Down!-Focus on one mission and a crew that doesn't come back. Since often crews didn't all survive it can deal with the impact back home as well as introduce the notion of being a Prisoner of War and how the folks in occupied Europe either tried to help or abused American airmen. Could be someone gets home via the underground, while someone gets lynched by a mob as well as some being POWs
-Episode 8-POW- Self explanatory. Follow some of the POW airmen through their interrogation to the POW camp and what life was like. Steal a bit from 12 O'Clock High and connect it to the still flying crews by having a mission flying over the POW camp and the view from above and below.
-Episode 9-Final mission-another one that's fairly obvious. The stress increases as they get closer to finishing their tour. Show a crew's final mission and their reactions. Going home? Signing up for a second tour.
-Episode 10-Home! Seems clear. Getting home, dealing with the relationships back home again after everything that's happened. A bit of "Best Years of our Lives" condensed.
-Episode 11-Who they were-Similar to the Documentary bit from Band of Brothers.
Dan I'd gladly help with the fighter script
you know what I'm talking about
