25 Missions in a B-17

 Maurer, Kevin.  Damn Lucky: One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in 

          Aviation History.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2022.  ISBN: 978-1-250-27438-0

In World War II, the U.S. Army Air Corp waged a brutal air war against Germany and occupied Europe by day and British Bomber Command did the same by night.  The object of this campaign was to destroy German infrastructure and bring the German economy to a halt.  For the Eighth Air Force based in England, the B-17 Flying Fortress was the main weapon.  Each B-17 had a crew of 10 men armed with bombs and machine guns.  But despite the name, the B-17 was vulnerable to enemy fighters and flak.  The goal of every crewman was to survive 25 missions and return home.  But the average crew only lasted 10 missions, so a constant stream of new recruits were needed.  Damn Lucky is the story of John Luckadoo, a pilot of a B-17 during 1943 at the height of the air campaign and his 25 missions.

John Luckadoo had planned on being a fighter pilot.  He and his friend Sully planned on joining the Army Air Corp, but need two years of college before they could apply.  Then Sully heard about the Royal Canadian Air Force and joined with his mother's permission.  Luckadoo could not get parental approval, so he stayed in college until Pearl Harbor happened.  He then joined the Army Air Corp, but he almost did not become a pilot.  His flight instructor was terrible, doing everything by rote and by the book.  Luckily, Luckadoo go a second chance with another flight instructor and passed.  Instead of becoming a fighter pilot, Luckadoo was assigned to the B-17 as a pilot in the 100th Bomb Group.  In June 1943, the 100th Bomber Group flew across the Atlantic to England.  They were based at Thorpes Abbots in East Anglia.  Luckadoo  flew missions over France and Germany from June 1943 to February 1944 when he flew his 25th and final mission.  

 

John Luckadoo provides just enough details for Kevin Maurer to describe the course of several missions.  Each mission had its moments of tensions, but several missions were quite harrowing and nerve-wracking to read.  If you want to know what the air war was like over Germany in World War II, Damn Lucky is one of the books to read!  John Luckadoo was damn lucky to survive!