We thought every mission was going to be our last

As Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks bring the thrilling exploits of the Bloody 100th to TV in Masters of the Air, the US bomb group's last surviving pilot, John 'Lucky' Luckadoo, 101, reflects on his incredible survival... and why we must never forget their sacrifices

- Peter Sheridan

RIDDLED with bullet holes and gaping gashes from anti-aircraft flak, John Luckadoo's B-17 Flying R Fortress bomber limped back over the English coastline, barely making it home after a hair-raising bombing run over Germany at the height of the Second World War.

When he joined the US 8th Air Force in 1942, he was one of 40 new pilots with the 100th bomb group. Only four survived to complete their tour of duty.

No wonder his nickname was "Lucky".

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have reunited to produce a blockbuster new series Masters of the Air, dubbed Band of Brothers in the skies about Luckadoo's legendary bomb group, which suffered such extreme casualties that it became famed as The Bloody 100th. Having first worked together on the D-Day drama Saving Private Ryan, it will be the pair's third major Second World War TV series, following 2001's acclaimed Band of Brothers, about the war in Europe, and the 2010 mini-series The Pacific.

Now 101, Luckadoo is the last surviving pilot from the Bloody 100th - and he will be watching when Masters of the Air debuts on Apple+ on Friday.

But he doesn't need a drama series to remind him how every mission over Europe was a perilous game of Russian roulette.

"Every time we flew, friends were shot down and never came back," he recalls, the memories still vivid. "There would be 10 empty bunks in the barracks where they'd been alive that morning. We knew that every mission could be our last.

"We were afraid, constantly afraid, but we had no choice. We were fighting for freedom and democracy, and had to be ready to lay down our lives.