Characters in Masters of the Air
Major Gale "Buck" Cleven (Austin Butler)
Along with Bucky Egan, one of the two undisputed leaders of the 100th Bomb Group
- Ambiguous Situation: Is shot down off-screen in Part Four. As of Part Six, he’s reunited with Bucky in Stalag Luft III.
- Embarrassing Nickname: He really wishes Bucky hadn't insisted on calling him Buck.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: The exception to his disinterest in sports is boxing, which he considers a true test of manhood and fighting spirit.
- Odd Couple: He and Bucky have very similar nicknames, and are nigh inseparable, but but that's about all they have in common beyond being bomber pilots.
- POW Camp: This is where he ended up after he was shot down offscreen in Part Four. He is later joined by Egan at the end of Part Six.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Bucky's red.
- The Stoic: Doesn't sing, doesn't dance, doesn't gamble or play sports. Unless it's boxing.
- The Teetotaler: Always abstains from drinking, although he does often go out to bars with his squadron mates.
Major John "Bucky" Egan (Callum Turner)
"Well, if I’m gonna bet on anything, I’m gonna bet on us, Buck."
Air Exec of the 100th Bomb Group, before becoming Commander of the 418th Bomb Squadron. Buck's hard-partying best friend.
Along with Buck Cleven, one of the two undisputed leaders of the 100th Bomb Group
- Action Survivor: After he bails out over Munster, he spends several days hiding in the German countryside, and survives a lynching attempt after he is captured the first time, then escapes only to be captured again.
- Blithe Spirit: A manic, happy-go-lucky pilot dealing with Army regulation and the horrors of war.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Far from the stoic professional image of an Army officer, Bucky is hyperactive, impulsive, and equally prone to trying to turn any situation into a party or a brawl. On the other hand, he is a hell of a good flier. These two traits are largely why Buck suggests that Colonel Harding fire him as the Group Air Exec and put him back in his old job as a squadron commander.
- Desk Jockey: Starts out the show as the 100th Bomb Group Air Exec, a job that keeps him at the base while his friends are flying into danger.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The death toll of the bombing campaign takes its toll on him, especially after Buck is shot down.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Loves to sing. Isn't any good at it.
- Iconic Outfit: Wears a 1937 Prototype B-3 jacket, which featured an off-white unfinished outer layer rather than the dark finished leather B-3 jackets most of the other pilots wear. Before the Munster Raid, he trades jackets with one of his friends, claiming that Buck always hated it.
- Military Maverick: An unusual example, as he follows orders just fine, but he chafes at his initial assignment as the 100th Bomb Group Air Exec, and is more than happy to get demoted to commanding the 418th.
- The Nicknamer: Responsible for Buck's nickname, because he reminded him of someone he knew named Buck. Because of Bucky, the entire Eighth Air Force now calls Clevan "Buck."
- Odd Couple: He and Buck have very similar nicknames, and are nigh inseparable, but but that's about all they have in common beyond being bomber pilots.
- Pay Evil unto Evil:
- After he meets the widow of a Polish fighter pilot, witnesses first-hand the effects of a German air raid on London, and learns that Buck has been shot down, Bucky takes this attitude towards the bombing campaign against the Germans.
- After the Munster Raid, Bucky finds himself on the flipside of this Trope, as a group of angry German civilians in a recently-bombed city lynch him and several other downed airmen after they are captured, and he only barely escapes.
- POW Camp: After surviving the events of Part Six, he ends up in a German POW camp where he meets up with other survivors of the 100th including Cleven.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Buck's blue.
First Lieutenant/Captain/Major Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle)
"I gotta be the worst navigator in the entire Army Air Force."
A navigator with an unfortunate tendency for air sickness. Provides the narration for the show.
- Beware the Nice Ones: One of the humblest and nicest men in the Group. Does not stop him from physically assaulting another officer who put an aircrew at risk by failing to do his job properly.
- Captain's Log: Provides the narration since the show is partly based on the book he'd write after the war.
- Desk Jockey: After returning from the second Bremmen raid, he gets promoted to Captain while also being promoted to Group Navigator. A desk job where he helps plan all future air raids and briefs the navigators on their missions.
- Good Luck Charm: The Snow Globe of Innocence that Bubbles loans him for the Trondheim raid. He returns it to Bubbles after surviving the Bremmen raid, just in time for Bubbles to take it along for the Munster raid. Unfortunately, Bubbles dies over Munster.
- The Navigator: Responsible for guiding his bomber, and the bombers following behind, to their targets and safely back home. He later gets promoted to head navigator of the entire airbase.
- Nervous Wreck: In the first couple of episodes, in part due to being constantly distracted from his work by his air sickness.
- Prone to Vomiting: Suffers from serious air sickness, which can be problematic when your job involves flying in an airplane.
- Rank Up: He is promoted to the rank of Captain in Part Five after surviving the second Bremmen raid. By Part Nine he has been promoted to major.
- Snow Globe of Innocence: He receives one as a good luck charm from his friend Bubbles.
- Workaholic: Crosby shows an immense dedication to his job as Lead and later Group Navigator, meticulously plotting and calculating every route. His work is immensely valuable and greatly appreciated by the airmen who rely on his plots, but that same drive to get everything right leads to him working for 72 hours straight in the run-up to Operation Overlord. His superiors eventually order/convince him to take a month's leave Stateside to ensure he has a proper break and won't burn out on the job.
- You Are in Command Now:
- When Bubbles gets sick, Crosby unexpectedly finds himself thrown into the role as the Group's lead navigator during the Trondheim raid. He later earns a promotion over it when he rises to the occasion and plots an evasive course that lets the group escape German pursuit while escorting Curt's damaged Fort to Scotland.
- He is promoted to Group Navigator after surviving the second Bremmen raid.
First Lieutenant Curtis Biddick (Barry Keoghan)
"I’m gonna fly like an angel today, and not die like one."
Boisterous Irish-American pilot of "Wild Cargo/Escape Kit."
- Boisterous Bruiser: Excitable and eager for a fight. When he realizes Buck is angry enough to take a swing at one of the RAF pilots, he volunteers to fight instead.
- Book Dumb: Comes off as this at times in conversation, but is more than capable of commanding a four-engined Flying Fortress, which is not a dumb man's game.
- Death by Irony: Despite piloting a B-17 named “Escape Kit” during the Regensburg raid, he stays behind to try and land his damaged B-17 in order to save his co-pilot Dickey, which fails and kills both of them. Made even more ironic as in real life, a fire aboard the aircraft prevented him from escaping the flight deck regardless.
- Decoy Protagonist: Is heavily featured in the first three episodes as a friend of Buck and Bucky's before his sudden death.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Challenges an RAF officer to a fight outside of a bar, and drops him in one punch.
- The Irish Diaspora: Is happy to inform a Scottish family that he's Irish. They loudly reply that he's not Irish, he's American.
- Large Ham: Loud and cheerful
- Plucky Comic Relief: Due to his Book Dumb and Large Ham tendencies.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Dies trying to land his damaged Fort, after refusing to bail out and leave a badly injured Dickey behind during the Regensburg raid.
Lieutenant/Captain/Major Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal (Nate Mann)
"You see people being persecuted, subjugated… you have to do something."
Jewish lawyer from Brooklyn who joins as a replacement pilot as one of the first group to not have been pilots pre-war. Planes: "Royal Flush" and "Rosie's Riveters".
- Ace Pilot: Flying alone after the Munster Raid, and in a damaged bomber, he dogfights four German fighters and wins.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Joins the show as a Lieutenant commanding a replacement crew about midway through the series, and is appointed a squadron commander and promoted to Major after he re-ups for a second tour less than a year later.
- Buzzing the Deck: In Part Seven, Rosenthal and his crew do this to the radio control tower and the ground crews in celebration for completing their 25th combat mission.
- Due to the Dead: After his friend is killed on his first mission, he takes it upon himself to inform the girl the man had been flirting with the night before.
- I Choose to Stay: Despite reaching the quota of 25 combat missions in Part Seven and earning the chance to go home, Rosenthal decides to stay and continue the fight.
- Jewish and Nerdy: He was a lawyer before the war.
- The Men First: His stated reason for re-upping after completing 25 missions is his concern for the other crews that have to meet the new requirement of 28 or 30 missions, and of the inexperienced replacement crews who are likely to die in his place.
- New Meat: He is among the replacement crews to join the 100th following the Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid, and unlike Egan and Cleven, never flew aircraft before the war.
- Sole Survivor: His plane is the only one from the 100th Bombardment Group that survives the Munster raid.
- Survivor's Guilt: Subtle, but it's there. When he re-ups for a second tour of duty after his 25th mission, one of Rosenthal's stated motivations is that he can't stand the idea that his likely replacement is going to be some Ensign Newbie who is going to get himself and his crew killed in their first few missions. While he doesn't explicitly mention his own status as sole surviving pilot of the Munster Raid, it's not hard to connect the dots.
