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#mastersoftheair I have a streaming mini-series that I am going to give all of you a most strong recommendation. I am proud to have had an uncle named John Robert Helms. He rose to the rank of major in the U.S. Army Air Corps. In World War II, he found himself flying a B-17 bomber from the US to Greenland and onto England. He flew the required 25 combat missions doing bombing missions over Norway, France, and Germany. Some 33% of the B-17s that lifted off on these bombing runs did not make it back to England. My uncle was a great aircraft commander and a great pilot. He carried his crew through all the missions with no crew member even injured.
The B-17 was developed around 1935 and had been in service for several years when World War II began. It carried 12 machine guns, It was known as "The Flying Fortress." It could fly up to 25,000+ feet at a creeping speed of 260 miles per hour. When any of us get into a jet airliner for a flight, we can fly in our shirtsleeves. Our jet airliner can fly as high as 42,000 feet where temperatures drop to -60 Fahrenheit. We do not need an oxygen mask. The cabin is pressurized and heated.
My Uncle John Robert flew in an airplane that was unpressurized and where temperatures dropped to -50 Fahrenheit on every combat mission. Crew members had to wear oxygen masks and heavy clothing to survive the polar winter temperatures. When they got near to their targets, they were exposed to a massive amount of anti-aircraft shells exploding all around each plane. Many German fighter aircraft manned by very skilled pilots came to shoot them down.
Steven Spielberg has produced an incredible high-budget mini-series with the title Masters of the Air. For those curious, here is a link to the IMDB report on the mini-series:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2640044/?ref=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_6_nm_2_q_Masters%2520Of%2520The%2520Air

The crew that produced this series had a passion for perfection in every detail shown in the series. It goes beyond the high budget. It is as if every man and woman working on the project poured their heart and soul into the project. I'm sure that if my Uncle John Robert was awakened from the grave and allowed to watch the series, he would say: "Oh my gosh, that's what it's really like!"
Ladies have little interest in war movies, as a rule. Yes, there are powerful combat scenes in this series. Over half the series follows the lives of the young men taken away from their lives in the US to fly "in harm's way." There is a lot of character development and things that women will love in a film.