Is Lt. Curtis Biddick from Masters of the Air a real person? On January 26th, we'll see Eternals and Saltburn star Barry Keoghan return to the small screen to portray one of the men included in the 100th Bomb group on Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air. Now, the question is, where was the character inspired from?
Is Lt. Curtis Biddick From Masters of the Air a Real Person?
As it turned out, Curtis Biddick's character in Masters of the Air is based on a real person by the same name: Lt. Curtis Rundle Biddick.
According to the records in the American Air Museum in Britain, Lt. Biddick was born in Livingston, Wisconsin on April 20, 1915.
After majoring in Animal Science at the University of California, Davis from 1932-1937, Biddick worked for a short time as a buyer in San Fransisco's wholesale meat industry.
By January 1942, Biddick enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the United States Army Air Corps. He graduated as a pilot in September of the same year.
Like Keoghan's Masters of the Air role, Biddick was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group and then departed with them in the spring of 1943.
Biddick was in charge of piloting B-17 42-30184 (aka nicknamed "Muggs").
Biddick piloted Muggs on the 12-hour mission to Trondjheim, which was the first Eighth Air Force attack on a Norwegian target.
However, Biddick's plane, B-17 42-5860 "Escape Kit", suffered greatly on the mission to Regensburg on August 17, 1943.
Escape Kit suffered from an oxygen fire that caused 20mm damage to the nose, trapping those on the flight, resulting in his death alongside his crew, which was teased in the Masters of the Air trailer, as well.
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Barry Keoghan Takes Flight in Masters of the Air
Academy Award winner Barry Keoghan plays the character Curtis Biddick, a pilot who helps the main protagonist, Major Gale Cleven (played by Austin Butler) into the brotherhood.
Considering that Keoghan knew what he was getting himself into when he joined Masters of the Air, he told PA News Agency that he believes Biddick would be the kind of person "who brings humor in these very extreme situations, especially when death is there."
"As an Irishman, we tend to bring the humour in a lot to kind of soften it," Keoghan added, "So I think Biddick eased a lot of stuff and brought that firecracker kind of thing into it."
Meanwhile, the official synopsis for Masters of the Air reads:
Masters of the Air follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the "Bloody Hundredth") as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen, and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air.
The nine-part series Masters of the Air debuts on Apple TV+ on January 26.
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