Wow. Just, wow! This is one man’s story of what he did during World War II.John “Lucky” Luckadoo survived a tour of 25 B-17 missions with the 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the Bloody Hundredth because so many were killed, captured, or wounded.
Air combat was untested, with many decisions that were irrational. For example, many 100th copilots were switched to pilots because they were better than the pilots. They were replaced on their crews by flight schools grads who had no training on the B-17. In Lucky’s case, he was resented by the rest of the crew and harassed by his fellow officers when they should have been a cohesive team. The pilot did nothing. This same aircraft commander delayed his crew’s departure to England because he was being treated for gonorrhea after sleeping around.
Curtis LeMay was determined to bomb Berlin, and ordered the 100th to do it alone. Lucky’s squadron commander cowardly ordered Lucky to lead the suicide mission. Fortunately, weather forced a recall.
The men were told they’d be killed, so just accept it and get on with it. What the Greatest Generation accomplished is amazing. Equally harrowing is Lucky’s belief that the freedoms bought by the Greatest Generation are now being squandered away.
Highly recommended. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Pretty riveting true story of one man's experiences in the Army Air Corps during WWII. This is not an overarching history but more of a glorified, expanded memoir (told in the 3rd person, except for one distracting paragraph). If you enjoy the period and adventure stories, this one is for you! I feel like I've read plenty of naval aviator histories, so Luckadoo's experiences with the "Flying Fortress" were new territory.

When I first encountered "Damn Lucky" by Kevin Maurer, provided to me in the form of an ARC by St. Martin's Press, I was somewhat taken aback because I have read extensively in this type of literature with very mixed results. However, I had expressed a willingness to read it, and my interest in the subject matter kept me going long enough to allow for a complete reading. The book traces the story of a young airman in the Army Air Corps during World War II from his training as a pilot to his eventual assignment to the Eighth Air Force in the European campaign against the Third Reich. The pilot in question, named John Luckadoo (predictably known as Lucky), dreamed of flying in fighters but eventually found himself as a copilot and then a lead pilot in a B-17 Flying Fortress. The most fascinating feature of the narrative, apart from the wealth of detail involving flight operations of these formidable aircraft in combat against the Luftwaffe, turned out to be the development of a hardened warrior from an idealistic and untried young man in the cauldron of horrific combat. Initially, Lucky thought of the war in terms of abstractions and the propaganda that was pervasive at the time, but as his experience mounted, he came to understand both his own nature and the true nature of the task he had trained for. He grew stoic and more than a little pessimistic about his mission and the underlying ethos of airpower as it was used in WWII. Nonetheless, like most of the the young men around him, he doggedly persevered in performing what he perceived as his duty even as he grew skeptical of both the weapons and doctrines that animated the Army Air Corps (and would persist to this day to some extent). Needless to say, his skepticism towards the doctrine of Strategic Bombing comes through loud and clear, and his character, by the end of his tour of duty, had been shaped by his experiences and his innate intelligence. For me, this was the most interesting part of the narrative.
In Maurer's capable hands, the tale comes alive, and one leaves it saddened for the very human cost of war to those who do their duty in spite of their misgivings.

A truly inspirational book about one mans struggle to survive the bombing campaign against Germany in WW2. The first hand accounts of the missions and the crew members struggles was deeply moving and really held my attention. A must read book.

Thank you to #NetGalley and St. Martins Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.