VETERAN WAS NICK-NAMED "POPEYE" IN LAST WAR

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 47, 17 June 1965, Page 12

VETERAN WAS NICK-NAMED "POPEYE" IN LAST WAR

Looking up old friends in Taupo recently was a well-known pilot of World War II, Mr F. Lucas, owner of Cecil Peak Station on Lake Wakatipu. Accompanied by his wife, "Popeye" Lucas, as he was known during the war, was a guest of Mr and Mrs G. C. Kain, of the Terraces Hotel, Taupo. As a squadron leader, Mr Kain was a flight commander in No. 75 squadron while "Popeye" commanded the other flight. Mr Lucas got his nickname from ,his ability to twist up his India-rubber face and talk like Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character. He started his Royal Air Force flying career as a pilot offlcer on probation at No. 10 Flying Training School, Shropshire, at the beginning of 1937, where he quickly endeared himself to instructors and pupils i alike. i This was due mainly to I his inherent good nature, his ability as a pilot of outstanding promise and his inability to fly through his ground subjects with the | greatest of ease. However, he made the grade and went. on to become one of New- Zealand's best-known bomber pilots in the Royal Air Force.

Most of his operatronai seiwice during the war was done in Wellington and Mosquito aircraft, and he was one of the earlier New Zealanders to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He is still , very fond of Wellingtons. "It was easy to patch up the holes in them," he said. "Popeye" was no stranger to flak from German antiaircraft barrages and the unfriendly attention of Luftwaffe night fighters. That was in No. 75 (N.Z.) Squadron. Later, he served in No. 487 (N.Z.) Squadron, which used Mosquitos on night intruder low-level attacks on enemy installations, soften-ing-up the opposition for "D Day" operations. Before he finished his war service, "Popeye" had reaehed the rank of wing commander and added a bar to his D.F.C. After returning to civil life, "Popeye" maintained an active interest in aviation — particularly applied to land improvement. A ! few years ago, he took over i Cecil Peak Station and has ja son-in-law and four strapIping sons to help run the | property. One of them, jwho towers above him, ; says "Hello, little Dad. What's it like- down ' there?"