LYNN — More than 70 years since Harry H. Crosby, the father of retired IUE-CWA Local 201 President Jeff Crosby, was called to serve his country as a navigator flying B-17 bombers with the “Bloody 100th” Bomb Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force during World War II, internationally acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg will depict the veteran’s acts of heroism and sacrifice in Apple TV’s new series “Masters of the Air.”
The nine-part series, which will screen for the first time at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline on Jan. 26, follows the 100th Bomb Group’s story of survival and sacrifice from its 1943 deployment in England until the end of the war in 1945. Harry H. Crosby will be played by the Irish actor Anthony Boyle.
“It’s a very strange feeling to think that for millions of people, the person on the screen will be my dad,” Jeff Crosby said. “I wish my father was still alive, because he sure would have enjoyed this.”
In the 10 years since filmmakers first approached Jeff Crosby and his siblings to tell them about the series, the Crosby family worked with writers and producers to inform them of Harry H. Crosby’s story. At one point, Crosby said his family travelled to England to see the set where his father would be portrayed.
“They built an entire Army Air Corps base in England, down to cigarette butts, ashtrays, paperwork, and everything. We saw my dad’s cot where he slept and they had his name on it there. It was next to the actual letters that my mom wrote to him during the war, which my sister had lent them,” Jeff Crosby said.
Still, much of Harry H. Crosby’s story, his son said, came from the war hero’s 1997 memoir, “A Wing and a Prayer,” which outlined his story as one of the few survivors from the bomb group.
Two weeks ago, the Crosby family flew out to Los Angeles to attend an opening preview of the series alongside its actors and writers. Jeff Crosby, who will be attending the Brookline screening on Friday, said he is most looking forward to scenes of his father in briefing rooms, which he remembers hearing about from childhood stories, and the conclusion of his father’s service.
“(I look forward to) the end, when he survives,” Crosby said.
