War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. your host, James Early. Hello, and welcome back to Masters of the Air, our nine-part discussion of the epic series that Apple TV Plus put out in early 2024? Masters of the Air.

I'm your host, James Early, as always.

And once again, I am joined by my good buddy, Sean McIre.

In our last episode, we saw the disastrous Munster mission in which every single plane that went out from the 100th bomb group

while either had to turn back for mechanical problems or in most cases were shot down.

Only one plane.

Except one.

That was Rosie.

Yeah.

The Royal Flash.

The name is the Royal Flash.

Yes, piloted by Robert Rosie Ros rosenthal and so it was a disastrous

mission just as shaw and i talked about last time by this point most of the original members of

the hundredth bomb group if they haven't been promoted to a higher position they have either been

killed or shot down or they're just missing. We don't know where they are.

So in this part, we'll see what happens next. We saw, in particular, we saw that Major John

...