Top Photo: John ‘Lucky’ Luckadoo receives a round of applause at The National WWII Museum’s grand opening of the Malcolm S. Forbes Rare and Iconic Artifacts Gallery and Voices from the Front experience in 2024.

The National WWII Museum mourns the loss of WWII veteran and dear friend John “Lucky” Luckadoo, who passed away on September 1, 2025, at 103 years old. He was the last surviving pilot from the 100th Bombardment Group who flew in World War II.

“The Major left formation the evening of September 1st and completed his final mission to bluer skies,” a message on Luckadoo’s official website said.

Born in 1922, Luckadoo joined the US Army Air Forces at age 19. Two months after the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor, he volunteered as an aviation cadet in February 1942. After completing training a year later, he was assigned as a pilot to the 351st Bomb Squadron of the 100th Bombardment Group. Luckadoo served as a copilot on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, flying 25 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe.

The 100th Bomb Group earned its now-famed nickname, the “Bloody Hundredth,” due to its heavy losses in the often-brutal air war in the skies over Europe. Luckadoo recalled that morale for the group cratered after suffering 400 percent crew turnover in its first 90 days in combat.

“Every time you went up, you were facing the stark possibility that would be your last mission,” Luckadoo said in a 2012 oral history recording for The National WWII Museum. 

Lucky Luckadoo served as a copilot on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, flying 25 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe in 1943–44. 

The Bloody Hundredth’s bad luck would continue, taking part in a series of catastrophic air raids on October 8–14, 1943. That period, which would later become known as “Black Week,” saw severe losses for the Army Air Forces, with 148 bombers and 1,500 aircrew lost in a matter of days. 

Luckadoo recalled that the worst of his 25 missions was a bombing raid to Bremen, Germany, on October 8, 1943. His squadron was assigned to fly the “Purple Heart Corner” of the formation, a position that was particularly vulnerable to enemy antiaircraft fire.

“We had never before encountered the density of the flak opposition that we did that day. And we had never previously experienced the Luftwaffe flying through their own flak,” Luckadoo recalled. 

Only six of the 18 planes from the 100th Bomb Group returned from Bremen. Luckadoo’s plane was hit during the raid; one engine was damaged, and the front glass nose cone was blown out. He said he could vividly recall witnessing another bomber, the Piccadilly Lily, being rammed by a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190, forcing him to take evasive action to avoid another collision.

After the Bremen mission, Luckadoo was temporarily grounded and was made operations officer for the 351st Squadron. Two days later, the 100th Bomb Group took off again to bomb Münster on October 10, 1943. Of the 13 planes sent out, only one would return.

“You had to conclude sooner or later that if you survived, you were just damned lucky,” he said.

Luckadoo also did not fly during the devastating second Schweinfurt raid on October 14, 1943, which would later become known as “Black Thursday.”

Service members were expected to fly 25 combat missions before they could be eligible to be rotated back to the United States. (The Bremen mission was Luckadoo’s 21st mission.) His original crew completed their 25th mission in September 1943, becoming the first in the 100th Bomb Group to complete the feat. However, Luckadoo was not with them for all of the missions and had to continue flying.

Luckadoo would later transfer to the 350th Squadron before completing his 25th mission in February 1944, flying Alice From Dallas II over a V-2 rocket site on the French coast. He returned to the United States in March 1944. He attended instrument school at Bryan Army Air Field in College Station, Texas, where he met his future wife. He transitioned to B-29s and was preparing for deployment to the Pacific theater when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

He accepted a regular commission when the Air Force became a separate branch, but would later resign to attend college using the GI Bill. He graduated from the University of Denver in 1950. 

Lucky Luckadoo signs copies of his book for attendees of the 2022 International Conference on World War II at The National WWII Museum.

Later in life, he helped preserve the legacy of the Bloody Hundredth by educating younger generations about their service and sacrifice. In 2021, Luckadoo was awarded The National WWII Museum’s Silver Service Medallion in recognition of his life of service and leadership. He is featured in the Museum’s interactive Voices from the Front experience, and his oral history has been archived in the Museum’s Digital Collections. In 2022, he spoke at the Museum’s International Conference on World War II, recalling his experiences during the war.

In recent years, Luckadoo continued the work in sharing his story for future generations. In 2022, his biography, Damn Lucky: One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History was published by New York Times best-selling author Kevin Maurer. 

Luckadoo also served as a technical consultant for the 2024 American war drama miniseries Masters of the Air for Apple TV+. The multipart series from the producers of Band of Brothers and The Pacific portrays the story of the Bloody Hundredth, including the deadly missions over Bremen, Schweinfurt, Regensburg, and Münster.