
Damn Lucky
One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
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Narrated by:
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Holter Graham
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John Luckadoo
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By:
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Kevin Maurer
About this listen
From Kevin Maurer—the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning coauthor of No Easy Day—comes the true story of a World War II bomber pilot who survived twenty-five missions in Damn Lucky, “an epic, thrillingly written, utterly immersive account of a very lucky, incredible survivor of the war in the skies to defeat Hitler” (New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw).
“We were young citizen-soldiers, terribly naive and gullible about what we would be confronted with in the air war over Europe and the profound effect it would have upon every fiber of our being for the rest of our lives. We were all afraid, but it was beyond our power to quit. We volunteered for the service and, once trained and overseas, felt we had no choice but to fulfill the mission assigned. My hope is that this book honors the men with whom I served by telling the truth about what it took to climb into the cold blue and fight for our lives over and over again.”—John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Major, USAF (Ret.) 100th Bomb Group (H)
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine.
With a shrapnel torn Bible in his flight jacket pocket and his girlfriend’s silk stocking around his neck like a scarf as talismans, Luckadoo piloted through Luftwaffe machine-gun fire and antiaircraft flak while enduring subzero temperatures to complete twenty-five missions and his combat service. The average bomber crew rarely survived after eight to twelve missions. Knowing far too many airmen who wouldn’t be returning home, Luckadoo closed off his emotions and focused on his tasks to finish his tour of duty one moment at a time, realizing his success was more about being lucky than being skilled.
Drawn from Luckadoo’s firsthand accounts, acclaimed war correspondent Kevin Maurer shares his extraordinary tale from war to peacetime, uncovering astonishing feats of bravery during the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history, and presenting an incredible portrait of a young man’s coming-of-age during the world’s most devastating war.
This program includes a bonus conversation between John "Lucky" Luckadoo and the author.
©2022 Kevin Maurer (P)2022 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Written from the "other side" and told as much as possible through the words of the veterans, this is an important book on one of the most controversial campaigns of the Second World War.
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Somewhat interesting but repetitive & misses stuff
- By B Taub on 08-24-24
By: Jonathan Trigg
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Clean Sweep
- VIII Fighter Command Against the Luftwaffe, 1942–45
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, BrigGen Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson USAF (Ret.) - foreword
- Narrated by: Lance C. Fuller
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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On August 7, 1942, two events of major military importance occurred on separate sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive, landing the First Marine Division at Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of the new Eighth Air Force’s 97th Bombardment Group bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.
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may be factual but poorly written
- By Bill Mackey on 01-08-24
By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, and others
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Tailspin
- By: John Armbruster
- Narrated by: Brandon Pollock
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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World War II tail gunner Gene Moran fell four miles through the sky without a parachute and lived. Captured by the Germans, he survived a harrowing eighteen months as a prisoner of war, including a six-hundred-mile death march in 1945 across Central Europe. When Gene returned home, he kept those memories locked up for nearly seventy years. His nine children knew little of their dad's war story. But when John, a young history teacher, learns of Gene's amazing fall, he's desperate to learn more. Finally, Gene agrees.
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Triumph, Tragedy, History
- By Bill54494 on 12-12-22
By: John Armbruster
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The Battle of Britain
- Five Months That Changed History; May-October 1940
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 26 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.
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The battle up to The Battle of Britain
- By Chiefkent on 11-07-17
By: James Holland
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Masters of the Air
- America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
- By: Donald L. Miller
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 24 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.
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Depth of Detail was incredible!
- By Gentry S on 03-19-24
By: Donald L. Miller
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Hell's Angels
- The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany’s industrial and military might were crippled. The first target was the Luftwaffe—the most powerful and battle-hardened air force in the world. The United States Army Air Forces joined with Great Britain’s already-engaged Royal Air Force to launch a strategic air campaign that ultimately brought the Luftwaffe to its knees. One of the standout units of this campaign was the legendary 303rd Bomb Group—Hell’s Angels.
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Captivating
- By rswaf86 on 11-12-21
By: Jay A. Stout
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The Mighty Eighth
- The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
- By: Gerald Astor
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.
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A Good Listen with 1 problem
- By Matthew Schuller on 08-23-19
By: Gerald Astor
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Dam Busters
- The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The night of 16 May, 1943: Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, each with a huge 9000-lb cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three dams deep within the German heartland, which provide the lifeblood to the industries supplying the Third Reich's war machine.
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A must for anyone interested in Air Warfare
- By Jim In Texas! on 03-24-14
By: James Holland
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Lucky 666
- The Impossible Mission
- By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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From the authors of the New York Times best-selling The Heart of Everything That Is and Halsey's Typhoon comes the dramatic untold story of a daredevil bomber pilot and his misfit crew who fly their lone B-17 into the teeth of the Japanese Empire in 1943, engage in the longest dogfight in history, and change the momentum of the war in the Pacific - but not without making the ultimate sacrifice.
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A WWII Pacific Tale
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: Bob Drury, and others
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Bomb Group
- The Eighth Air Force's 381st and the Allied Air Offensive Over Europe
- By: Paul Bingley, Mike Peters
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 19 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In February 1942, a reconnaissance party of US Army Air Force officers arrived in England. Firmly wedded to the doctrine of daylight precision bombing, they believed they could help turn the tide of the war in Europe. In the months that followed, they formed the Eighth Air Force—an organization that grew at an astonishing rate. To accommodate it, almost seventy airfields were built across the eastern counties of England. At the heart of the Eighth Air Force was its bombardment groups, each equipped with scores of heavily armed, four-engine bombers. This is the story of just one "Bomb Group".
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Excellent history and narration
- By MortonC on 12-20-24
By: Paul Bingley, and others
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The Fight in the Clouds
- The Extraordinary Combat Experience of P-51 Mustang Pilots During World War II
- By: James P. Busha
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang first started appearing in real numbers in 1943, at the climax of the Allied campaign in World War II. Able to fly long ranges, it would go on to provide pivotal air support on D-Day, and by the end of the war, it would be responsible for nearly half of all enemy aircraft shot down. In The Fight in the Clouds, aviation writer and EAA Warbirds of America editor James P. Busha draws on interviews conducted with dozens of veteran P-51 pilots to trace the progress of war through the men’s exciting, chronologically organized experiences.
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Great could not put the book down!
- By Don Rottiers on 03-17-23
By: James P. Busha
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Lions of Kandahar
- The Story of a Fight Against All Odds
- By: Major Rusty Bradley, Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Southern Afghanistan was slipping away. That was clear to then-Captain Rusty Bradley as he began his third tour of duty there in 2006. The Taliban and their allies were infiltrating everywhere, poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, their strategically vital onetime capital. To stop them, the NATO coalition launched Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in its history. The battlefield was the Panjwayi Valley, a densely packed warren of walled compounds that doubled neatly as enemy bunkers.
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'Merica!
- By NKeene on 03-07-15
By: Major Rusty Bradley, and others
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Big Week
- The Biggest Air Battle of World War II
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-points of World War II.
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War in the Air: Sets stage with gripping narrative
- By Nashville Cat on 11-17-18
By: James Holland
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Wings of War
- The World War II Fighter Plane That Saved the Allies and the Believers Who Made It Fly
- By: David Fairbank White, Margaret Stanback White
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Wings of War is the incredible true story of the P-51 Mustang fighter and the unlikely crew of designers, engineers, test pilots, and army officers who brought it from the drafting table to the skies over World War II. This is hardly a straightforward tale of building an airplane—for years, the team was stymied by corruption within the defense industry and stonewalled by the Army Air Forces, who failed to understand the Mustang’s potential.
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Disappointed
- By David Kocol on 06-22-23
By: David Fairbank White, and others
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Throne of Grace
- A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the Bloody Conquest of the American West
- By: Tom Clavin, Bob Drury
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the early 19th century, and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles. Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men, waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse.
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Jedidiah Smith
- By Katie Curry on 10-21-24
By: Tom Clavin, and others
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Lightning Down
- A World War II Story of Survival
- By: Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his forty-fourth combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin's Lightning Down tells this largely untold and riveting true story.
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This book will make you understand how much ch our freedom costs
- By Linkr on 11-06-21
By: Tom Clavin
The story of a boy who grew up, and became a man.
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An awesome listen
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Excellent!
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Outstanding Book
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We are all Damn Lucky
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Great story of Greatest Generation
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Inspiring story on the sacrifice lucky made for his country.
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lucky
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Such a great story
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must read
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