Lucas, John Robert

Killed in Action 1942-02-18

Birth Date: 1921-July-06

Born:

Son of John and Caroline Lucas, of Toronto, Ontario.

Home: Toronto, Ontario

Enlistment:

Enlistment Date: Unknown

Service

RCAF

Unit

153 Sqn- Squadron (RAF)
Noctividus We see by night

Base

Ballyhalbert

Rank

Flight Sergeant

Position

Flight Sergeant

Service Numbers

R/78281

153 Squadron (Noctividus). Beaufighter aircraft T 3194 crashed in the Irish Sea west of the Isle of Man. The RAF navigator, FS. Dean, was also killed.

Boulton Paul Defiant

(RAF Photo) (Source Harold A Skaarup web page)
Boulton Paul P.82 Defiant, RAF (Serial No. L7026), coded PS*V, c1941.
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The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns, also found in the Blackburn Roc of the Royal Navy.

In combat, the Defiant was found to be reasonably effective at destroying bombers but was vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more manoeuvrable, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. The lack of forward-firing armament proved to be a great weakness in daylight combat and its potential was realised only when it was converted to a night fighter. It eventually equipped thirteen squadrons in this role, compared to just two squadrons as a day-fighter. In mid-1942 it was replaced by better performing night-fighters, the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito.

The Defiant continued to find use in gunnery training, target towing, electronic countermeasures and air-sea rescue. Among RAF pilots it had the nickname "Daffy".Wikipedia





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