Flight Sergeant John Robert Lucas (R/78281) served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. He was the son of John Lucas and Caroline Lucas of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
John died in a flying accident on 18th February 1942 aged 24 years old. He was the pilot of Boulton Paul Defiant T3914 with RAF 153 Squadron. Flight Sergeant Cecil Thomas Deane died in the same incident.
Imperial War Museum Photo: CNA 369 (Part of the Air Ministry Second World War Official Collection). Sheep graze in front of a Bristol Beaufighter Mark IVF of RAF 153 Squadron at Setif, Algeria. Photo taken by Flight Lieutenant Bertrand John Henry Daventry.
Throughout the Second World War, RAF 153 Squadron operated in Northern Ireland and North Africa. To commemorate this, their crest is the six-pointed star from the Ulster flag and a North African bat. As a night bombing squadron, the bat symbolises their nocturnal predatory instincts.
The squadron reformed at RAF Ballyhalbert, Co. Down on 14th October 1941 equipped with night-fighting Boulton Paul Defiants. It is unlikely that John Robert Lucas ever flew in the new Bristol Beaufighters that arrived in 1942 for the North Africa campaign.
John Robert Lucas’ grave is in Plot 3 of St. Andrew’s Church of Ireland, Ballyhalbert, Co. Down.