John Hampton "Lucky" Luckadoo

The family of John Hampton (Lucky) Luckadoo, (Maj. USAF (Ret.) is saddened to announce his death. He was born on March 16, 1922 in Chattanooga, TN. to L.V. and Rowena Luckadoo. He had 2 brothers and a sister. He died on September 1, 2025.

John grew up in Chattanooga and attended the University of Chattanooga until early 1942 when he joined the United States Army Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet. Completing his flight training in the Southeast Training Command and graduated as a Multi-engine Pilot on Feb. 13, 1943, he was immediately assigned to the 100th Bomb Group (The Bloody Hundredth). He proceeded to England where he completed a combat tour of 25 missions with the Eighth Air Force as a B-17 pilot and Operations Officer of two squadrons. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Victory Medal, Presidential Unit Citation and later the French Legion of Honor.

Returning to the US in early 1944, he married Barbara Howell and was assigned to MacDill Field, FL where he formed a Combat Crew Inspection Team for replacement crews then being sent to England for combat in preparation for the Normandy Invasion. He later transitioned to the B-29 bombers and was preparing to depart for the Pacific War when the atomic bomb ended WWII. In 1946 he accepted an appointment to the Regular US Air Force, serving until late 1948 when he resigned his commission to complete his college education at the University of Denver. After graduation he began his career in real estate. He developed the first air-conditioned mall shopping center at Lakeside in Denver and was involved in commercial real estate development of similar centers, office buildings and apartments throughout the southwest including Big Town in Dallas.

Moving to Dallas in 1960 with his beloved family, he continued in commercial real estate development. During this time, he also served several years as a Vice President of Dallas Federal Savings & Loan Assoc. managing all their real estate holdings and then served as the Leasing Manager for Manulife Life Insurance Co., owners of the Stemmons Towers and other Dallas properties. He also engaged in consulting with other real estate owners and developers throughout the southwest and operated his own commercial real estate development business.

Retiring from active business life in 1986, he became involved in numerous volunteer activities including establishing a radio reading service for Dallas Taping for the Blind and assisting with the Historical Aviation Collection at the University of Texas at Dallas. He also served for many years as the Facilitator (or Master of Ceremonies) for the monthly meetings of the Happy Warriors group at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field. For the past 15 years he was a frequent speaker about his combat experiences at various civic, military and governmental organizations, as well as schools, churches, retirement facilities, and universities. His recorded video interviews about his experiences as a combat B17 pilot as part of an exhibit at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and archived at the University of North Texas. He consulted on the recent AppleTV docuseries, "Masters of Air: America's Bomber Boys who fought the air war against Nazi Germany" and is interviewed in its final episode. In 2022 his training and combat experiences were chronicled in a book titled "Damn Lucky: One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History". For the past decade he has assisted with the philanthropy efforts of the 100th Bomb Group Foundation and the Museum of the Mighty Eight Air Force whose missions are to inform current generations of the sacrifices made by members of these organizations during World War II. Recently he has been working with US Congressional Representatives to establish a national holiday, "Home Front Heroes", to commemorate the sacrifices of civilians during those times to provide the materials and support for the war effort.

Lucky is survived by his daughter and her husband, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren as well as three nieces and a nephew. He was deeply loved by us all and we will miss him greatly.

Memorials may be made to the 100th Bomb Group Foundation <100thBG.org>.