DALLAS — To make sure that Hollywood is as accurate as possible when it attempts to retell actual historical events, it's helpful if producers and directors can find someone who was actually part of that history.
In Plano, they found a certified American hero named Lucky, now a month shy of his 102nd birthday,
"Well, I'm trying to maintain some balance and equilibrium," John "Lucky" Luckadoo said with a laugh when asked if he felt, now, like a Hollywood celebrity.
"A very rapid journey," he said of the newest phase of his celebrated life.
Luckadoo was little more than a teenager when he flew bombing missions over Germany in WWII, his bomb group was known as the "Bloody 100th" because so few of them made it home alive. His biography, Damn Lucky, has already been a best-seller. But these days, Hollywood stars like Austin Butler are name-dropping him.
Because Lucky served as a consultant to the Apple series "Masters of the Air." Butler and other actors in the WWII drama based on the story of the 100th Bomb Group have recounted their listening sessions with Luckadoo and other surviving flight crews as they've traveled the world promoting the series produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
"He walked up to me," Luckadoo said of his first meeting with Spielberg. "He's a little short fella about half my height, and he put out his hand and said 'Hi, I'm Steve I'm one of the producers.' I said how do you do. I'm Lucky. Glad to know you!"
And at Presbyterian Village North in Dallas where Lucky lives, the series episodes are screened every Friday night. And Lucky says that, so far, he thinks the series is serving a worthy purpose.
"My fervent hope would be that they would recognize the futility of war," he said. "Hopefully it's going to impress on successive generations who weren't born then, what sacrifices were made on their behalf, or they wouldn't be here."
The final episode, by the way, will air next month, the day before Lucky's 102nd birthday.
So, the jet-setting pilot whose press tours have taken him from London to the Pentagon and more, will be off to New York for a final press event for the series.
"Well it's pretty awesome to be so acknowledged," he said.
But there was one question I'd never asked Lucky: the secret to making it to 102.
"Scotch," he replied with a smile.
"Can I substitute bourbon for that," I asked him.
"No. Not in my book," he laughed.
But as far as the story of the "Masters of the Air," it's a book and a story that Lucky Luckadoo will always be willing to tell.