In the fourth episode of Masters of the Air, Bob, an American soldier, is introduced. A complicated but successful test soon reveals him to be a German spy.
#masteroftheair #bob #germanspy
Subscribe to the Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@heavybreakdowns
I firmly think that any material used does so following the principles of fair use, but if any content owners disagree, I will delete it without delay. I don’t intend to violate their right to ownership of their content in any manner. If you discover your artwork or photos in the video, kindly let me know so I may give you credit.
Hello viewer and welcome back to the channel the fourth episode of Masters of the air goes beyond Thor habits to tell the Escape Narrative of Sergeant William Quinn through Bob a character who makes one subtle Revelation about himself the show briefly explores the world of German Espionage in the third episode
Quinn had to flee when his jet suffered significant damage while on the risky Reagan’s burck Mission Quinn flees to Belgium where he is presented with an option after failing to save babya face from the turret Gunner hatch he has two options risk his life to escape or end up as a
Prisoner episode 4 depicts his runaway Quinn’s first task is to meet with the Belgian Nationals who will assist him in leaving the nation when he gets there he discovers that Bob an unfamiliar Soldier and Sergeant Bailey is also trying to flee the belgians administer a test to
The three men the test starts with standard questions about names and Co numbers but it quickly deviates when the belgians ask about Babe Ruth and insist that the guys perform the national anthem of the United States Bob is killed by the belgians for being a spy
Just a few scenes later when the party is making their way to Safety in masters of the Year episode 4 Bob explained how he wrote the date that seemed to give him away given the Belgian Test’s initial unpredictability it might be challenging to figure out how Bob
Revealed his identity as a German spy he could sing the National Anthem with pride and accuracy and he had an American accent it all boils down to the last moment of the exam when Bob scribbled the date Bob wrote it using the European Norm instead of the
American one which puts the month day and year the month and year are written after the date when writing a date in Europe This demonstrated Bob’s non-american status although masters of the Year doesn’t explicitly say that this was the big clue it seems like a plausible explanation declaring they are
Never incorrect the belgians respond to Quinn and Bailey’s demands for an explanation for Bob’s death by saying they are convinced he was German Bob might have answered incorrectly on a few additional minor questions during his entire exam leading the Belgian to assume he was German ultimately Bob state provided viewers with the most
Evidence that he was a secret agent is Bob from masters of the air based on a real story though Bob’s escape from Belgium is unrecorded indicating that he is a fictional character the reality of German spies is undeniable and Bob’s circumstances may have Arisen during World War II German
Spies were infiltrating various areas of the battlefield even before America’s entry the FBI claims that the week following Pearl Harbor a whole network of German spies known as the Duane spy ring was busted for Espionage in this sense people like Bob from masters of the air were very genuine and very
Dangerous even though he may not have been I hope you enjoyed these theories I’ll be posting more soon thanks for viewing watch out for the next shocking surprise
46 Comments
He wrote the date correctly not like an idiot, thus betraying that he was not American
Terrible firearms safety, look whats right behind his target while he is shooting.
If they asked me about baseball I'd be screwed….I csnt tell you about thr dodgers but I can tell you about William Hung!
Except in the us military, dates on official correspondence is exactly like your theoretical “European” style today. Not sure about 1943. DoD official correspondence, today would be 27 February 2024 or 27 Feb 2024.
Btw, 30 year retired USMC officer here.
I think this show got something else wrong in addition to numerous other points.
Americans are taught to eat holding a fork in the right hand, Europeans hold the fork in the left hand, while holding a knife in the right. The was a story of OSS operatives getting nabbed because they ate food the American way.
From how they do the date in US… Different to Europe
I don't know about WWII, but in the recent times (since the 1960s) the US Military writes dates DD Month, year like the Europeans do.
0:17 that’s not a jet it’s a B-17
I knew when he wrote the date
I reckon it was his German accent that gave him away it did to me the moment he opened his mouth
In Part 2,when buck and Bucky are watching the jazz band play “blue skies” and Eagan wants to sing doesn’t he ask “bob” if he should sing? And he replied No. is this the same guy? Someone please go check this for me.
It has to said, the way Americans write the date makes no sense at all.
I'm American and would of failed the national anthem. I never go to ball games or places where it is sang hardly ever. I know the pledge by heart. Because K to 6th we had to do it every day. If I was listening to the anthem I would know the next words by heart with that little bit of reminder. So I don't know. Maybe I would of gotten shot. Because I would of been nervous trying to remember it.
Also he sang the national anthem too patriotic
In old movies, you could conclude who a murderer was if you had the mental capabilities to connect the dots sprinkled throughout the story. But in more modern movies, they leave out any visible hints to make the protagonist look like a genius in how he collected the evidence to find a murderer. So, instead of one spectator of a movie being clueless while another knew who the murderer was, it is a way of unifying the spectators into one combined opinion about a scene or movie so public ratings and reviews would not vary too much or even contradict each other.
We can speculate about the hints in this scene, but if there was a scene later in the series that described the evidence, like a persona writing a report or diary, they would come up with many things that we haven't seen on screen for the same reason described above.
I was born and raised in Bradford a lot of family there
Clearly it's because he accepts when the guys with guns said "zigaretten"
I dated a girl, an American girl, both parents American from America…. an important distinction from say, being American but having off-the-boat German grand parents. Or an Immigrant after ww2….
So, her mom is South Texas Mexican from the Valley, like Selena.
Her Dad is German but his great great great grandparents came over. He worked internationally fr Reynolds Aluminum.
Annnddd the Belgiums would have shot my girlfriend, she went to school abroad in those "American" overseas schools.
She NEVER could stop writing the date the incorrect way.
21 July 1961. As example. Not the American July 21, 1961.
My German is limited to DER WEINERSCHNITZEL !!!! ACHTUNGGGG!!!!
She spoke German, Spanish, French and Italian.
I caught that right away. I was born in Germany but I’ve lived most my life in U.S., I knew before he even wrote it down why they asked him that question.
B-17, 42-5867, "Alice From Dallas", 100BG / 350BS, LN-O, 17.08.1943, Regensburg, crashed Langerloo, 5 miles E of Hasselt,
The way he wrote his date and the way he wrote his “9”
I'm not sure the date order was it; we use day-month-year in the military, just like they do in Europe. Handwriting styles differ greatly in the different parts of Europe and North America. Due to many of the cultural reformations taking place in Germany in the decades leading up to the war, handwriting was taught in the neo-gothic style which can be seen when Bob is writing his numbers. This kind of style looks similar to the numbering style seen in the 18th century, and many of us would be familiar with the more elaborate numbering style from some of America's founding documents. Not that the date order isn't part of it, though; I think that maybe the case. But, I appreciate this scene and how it does highlight (as does our discussion here) just how meticulous the resistance networks had to be during the war.
These underground warriors were incredibly brave. The Nazi’s tortured the hell out of them when they were caught.
What if they were really just guessing and went better safe than sorry?
I saw the date thing and know it was not American
The d/m/y format isn't a tell on its own but part of a series. In Canada we interchange and use either d/m/y or m/d/y based on blood sugar levels as long as you spell the month.
Another tell is the way Bob made his "1" and his "9" – that is the way they are taught in Europe but not a smoking gun as he could have been home schooled in the US by European parents.
The third tell is the lighter being specialized and not a zippo – not a smoking gun as pretty sure you could get a German lighter in the US.
Put all three together and he is dead on arrival.
Everyone keeps saying it's the date but you're all wrong unless it's an oversight in the show because the US military writes the date in that format
It’s also notable that there were non-Germans who sided with them for various reasons, including some Americans. I’ve no idea if the character is based on a real one but if you want to infiltrate an underground railroad for escaping Americans or the resistance running it, one of those people would be a logical choice. Perhaps getting used to doing things the German way and being issued German equipment could still lead to some tell tale signs though.
The robo voice is really annoying though.
Thanks for the spoiler
The video is wrong! They caught this guy as suspect because he wrote the "1" in "18" European style (European 1s have a more "cursive upswing." Then he also completely wrote out the month as "August." As a matter of US military combat training – aircrews and radiomen would never have written out the month as "August" that way, but rather it would have looked more like: "18 Aug 1943."
— Also, they deleted the scene where he ordered three drinks holding up his thumb and two fingers! 😛
It was the way he wrote the date is how they caught him
He sang “what so broadly we hailed…”
His "1" was a dead giveaway.
So he have trained himself an american accent but made mistakes on how he wrote the date? No german spy on this level would make this mistake.
Its the way he wrote the date. Americans write Month, day, year. Others do day month year
jet?
It was not a “jet” that Quinn bailed out of. It was a bomber. 🤦🏻♀️
Quinns E&E file can be downloaded for free at NARA. Truth can be better than fiction
I do like other opinion that They knew Bob was a spy because he answered all question too perfectly.
Bob even sang the national anthem with full energy while other are just barely holding on.
This is low effort content to the extreme, I haven't seen anything this lazy for a long while.
Jeez that was a tough penalty just for failing an exam ! The issue of German spies being uncovered and shot whilst trying to break into the lifeline networks that were trying to smuggle allied airmen into Spain is covered really well in a few episodes of series 1 of Secret Army. That BBC tv series isalso available here on YouTube. It was made in 1978 but is an excellent drama despite its age.
@1:15: "he could sing the national anthem with pride and accuracy" No he couldn't, he got one word wrong. I forgot which but it immediately sounded odd to my American ears and suspected in that moment he was a spy.
"When his jet suffered significant damage" Maybe he got shot down in his German Me-262 jet over France and had standing orders to pretend to be an American airman instead and infiltrate the French resistance.
When Bob wrote the date he did so in Euro fashion. Here is an example. April 1st in the USA: April 1, 1942. April 1st in Europe: 1 April 1942 and
the German lighter in his possession pretty much confirmed it. While an infantryman could easily pass it off as a souvenir or trophy, not so much if you were an airman based in England.
On top of that, Bob didn't have the same injuries as Quinn and Bailey.
Yikes… have been writing the date on documents, day/month/year, for decades without knowing it is European style. Good thing have never been questioned by Belgians in all those years.
They may of made a guess for some reason or another, but I notice in the comments everyone here assumes they guessed right. How are they so sure? Just because they shot him doesn't mean they correctly guessed he was a spy. maybe he wasn't really? but it doesn't matter because he's dead and the show moves on…..