John Luckadoo survived some of the most dangerous missions in World War II. As a member of the 100th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force, he flew 25 bombing missions over Axis territory during the war. The bomb group saw so many casualties it was nicknamed the “Bloody Hundredth.” Luckadoo was one of those who was able to fly a full 25 missions, enough to earn a trip home. He died this month at the age of 103, the last original member of the Bloody Hundredth.
Maj. John “Lucky” Luckadoo died on Sept. 1 in his home in Dallas after some time in hospice, according to his family.
“The Major left formation the evening of September 1, 2025, and completed his final mission to bluer skies,” a message posted to his website said.
The man eventually known as “Lucky” was born March 16, 1922 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He would recount an early interest in flying. When Luckadoo finished high school he tried to join the Canadian Royal Air Force to fight in World War II, but he was underage and needed parental consent, something he said his dad would not give. He went to college and was studying when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened. He volunteered and went through aviation training. He deployed to Thorpe Abbotts airfield in England in June 1943 as part of the original group that made up the 100th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force. He was a pilot assigned to a B-17 “Flying Fortress.” Even with the many guns on their bombers, the members of the 8th Air Force would have to brave waves of German fighters, unyielding flak and missions deep into enemy territory. “We were going overseas to die,” he would later recount eight decades later. At the end of June the 100th Bomb Group was flying in combat.
Luckadoo took part in some of the most dangerous missions the 100th Bomb Group carried out. He was in the skies for the period known as “Black Week,” a stretch of October 1943 where the Army Air Force lost 1,500 service members and dozens of planes.
During a bombing run over Bremen that month, one of his last missions, 12 of the 18 bombers in his group were shot down by the time they dropped their bombs. In a 2015 interview, Luckadoo recounted suddenly being the only flight leader in the formation as enemy fighters and flak tore through the American planes. He regrouped the remaining planes and managed to escape danger, linking up with another squadron. He said it was the “nearest that I came to getting shot down.”
By the time the war in Europe was over, the 8th Air Force had lost 26,000 men. Luckadoo was, as his nickname went, one of the lucky few from the original 100th Bomb Group to survive. For Luckadoo, combat flights ended on Feb. 13, 1944. He went back to the states, for additional training with other pilots on instruments. He was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, later describing himself as “at loose ends.” But he would meet Barbara, his future wife. They eventually moved to the Dallas area in 1960, where they remained for the rest of their lives (Barbara died in 2017).
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For decades Luckadoo was quiet about his wartime experiences. Eventually his wife convinced him to talk about what he went through. His daughter Lainy Abbott recounted her mom telling him he had a duty as one of the few left. He began sharing his stories. He attended veterans gatherings and spoke to Air Force service members and cadets about the 100th Bomb Group and 8th Air Force. In 2014, while visiting Europe with other World War II veterans, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor, France’s highest commendation.
He also served as a representative and historian for the 100th Bomb Group after the war. Even after turning 100, he kept telling the unit’s stories. Luckadoo’s experiences led him to serve as a technical advisor on the Apple TV+ miniseries ‘Masters of the Air.’ Luckadoo was not portrayed in the show by an actor, but he helped the show get specifics of the missions and crews correct and appeared in a companion documentary to the miniseries about the real-life figures.
