The Fate of Buck Cleven, Masters of the Air Leaves Fans on Edge

A stunning revelation occurs at the end of Masters of the Air Episode 4: Buck and his men were shot down during the mission to Bremen, but did he actually die? No, Buck is still alive. 

We will get to see him later in the series, but in Masters of the Air Episode 4, his plane was shot down. Along with Bernard DeMarco, he was brought to a Luftwaffe station.

Maj. Gale W. “Buck” Cleven, played by Austin Butler. Cleven served as the C.O. of the 350th Bomb Squadron, and is a legendary figure in the history of the 100th Bomb Group. Cleven’s military service spanned more than 24 years, and he retired with the rank of Colonel. pic.twitter.com/B2fM7GI5rl

This marked the beginning of a protracted journey that would eventually take them to Frankfurt via Munster, Essen, Düsseldorf, and Cologne. 

They were interned in solitary confinement on the outskirts of the city and then loaded onto freight cars bound for the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft III in Żagań.

According to Cleven’s profile on the website of the 100th Bomb Group Foundation, enemy fire resulted in “considerable” damage, forcing Buck and his men to evacuate. 

There was a gloomy atmosphere at Thorpe Abbotts, as it was believed that Buck and the other missing soldiers had not survived the mission based on the lack of sightings of their chutes. 

The Unsolved Mystery

After Buck and Captain DeMarco managed to escape, the Germans took them prisoner and imprisoned them in Stalag Luft III until the end of the war.

A post shared by Lights, Camera, Barstool (@lightscamerabarstool)

Masters of the Air’s Gale “Buck” Cleven, played by Austin Butler, has been the show’s main focus up until episode 4, leaving many questions for the audience to speculate about. 

Despite being a war drama, Masters of the Air narrates the actual stories of the men who served in the 100th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Forces.

In the spring and summer of 1943, Buck Cleven fought alongside innumerable other airmen against the German forces. It is clear from the 100th’s return to Bremen in episode 4 that they had sustained heavy casualties. 

Specifically, about eighty men from the 100th, among them Majors Harry Crosby and Gale “Buck” Cleven, did not return from the mission. 

It is assumed that Buck and the other missing soldiers did not make it out of the mission when the men who did return say they saw no chutes come out of Buck’s plane. 

John Shiban and John Orloff are the creators of Masters of the Air, a 2024 American war drama streaming television miniseries on Apple TV+. 

It is based on Donald L. Miller’s 2007 book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany and chronicles the actions of the Eighth Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, a heavy bomber unit of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses that flew in eastern England during World War II.

ncG1vNJzZmiolZq9tMPIs2Wcp51kwbd706GcZp6RqbJuu8Vmma6bm2KwrbHVnqVmpZGowaa%2B0mamn2WknbJurcirZKWdkauytHnFmqWsZZ%2Bjeqawxp5m