Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 22, 2021 20:59:16 GMT 12
I came across this article in the Press newspaper dated 26th of March 1960:
“Popeye” Lucas To Come Back To Earth
[Specially written for "The Press” by BRIAN CLEMENS]
One of New Zealand’s most noted war-time bomber pilots, Fred ("Popeye”) Lucas, who became even more widely known in the postwar years for pioneering the use of aircraft in rabbit poisoning and topdressing operations in this country, has followed his family’s long traditions of farming with the purchase of the remote 34,000-acre Cecil Peak high country station on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. With his wife and five children he will settle on the property, which he purchased from Mr Alec Burnett, next week. The station is inaccessible except by launch, and the s.s. Earnslaw.
Mr Lucas was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for leading or taking part in 81 bomber raids over Germany and occupied Europe. It was a far cry from dropping bombs over Germany to air dropping trout fry in Lake Paringa, in far South Westland, superphosphate and poison pellets on high-country stations, and food supplies to deer-cullers’ camps in the most inaccessible mountain regions. But on the completion of his war service Mr Lucas saw the very real uses, to which aircraft could be put in developing and penetrating the high, back country areas of the southern part of the South Island, and in overcoming the formidable obstacles of these places, most of which are inaccessible except by foot.
With only one plane, a tiny Auster, he formed Southern Scenic Air Services, of which he became managing director and chief pilot, at Queenstown in 1947, and later this company took over West Coast Airways from the National Airways Corporation. He sold his interest in the air companies about 18 months ago and until recently had owned the Lower Shotover Hotel in Central Otago. His airlines became known throughout New Zealand and much further afield for the diversity of work which they undertook, and were generally acknowledged as among the most versatile air companies in the world. As well as operating regular scenic flights over the Mount Cook and glacier regions, the Southern Lakes, and Fiordland, and scheduled flights between Queenstown and Dunedin, Mr Lucas fed an army of about 100 Government-employed deer shooters, dropping supplies to their remote mountain camps, from the Urewera country in the North Island to Dusky Sound in the far southwest. He also’ dropped supplies to mountaineers, hut materials, carried out air taxi and charter work, aerial topdressing and sowing, fence dropping, rabbit poisoning, cattle' and sheep spotting for large stations, and fire spotting. He brought virtually all the whitebait catches from South Westland to the city markets, and carried out the first successful liberation of trout fry by air.
First Topdressing Pilot
Mr Lucas was the first pilot in New Zealand to carry out aerial, topdressing—on Lake Hayes station, Central Otago, in 1947 and distributed the first poison baits for rabbit destruction, on Mr Duncan Anderson’s Bog Roy station, Kurow, in 1947, before the advent of rabbit boards. Probably the biggest aerial sowing job in New Zealand was performed by his company when it spread seed over 6000 of the 32,000-acre Mount Winterslow station in Mid-Canterbury in 1947-48.
The variety of tasks which he has performed has thoroughly convinced high-country runholders in Central Otago and Southland of the effectiveness of aircraft above all other means in hastening the development of the mountainous areas. Nearly all stations have prepared airstrips in recent years.
Born at Tuapeka Mouth, Otago, Fred Lucas attended the local primary school and later the Otago Boys’ High School. He gained his pilots’ licence with the Otago Aero Club in 1935, and worked his way to England before the war, joining up with the R.A.F. He was posted to No. 10 Bomber Squadron in July, 1937, and two years later transferred to the R.N.Z.A.F. to fly Wellington bomber aircraft to New Zealand. War intervened however, and he became a pilot in No. 75 Squadron, flying Wellingtons on 60 bombing trips over Germany during the next two years. "Popeye” Lucas gained his nickname in his first days in the R.A.F., and a caricature of the real cartoon character was painted on the aircraft which he piloted on his bombing missions.
He claims, modestly, to have had “a few narrow squeaks" on these raids, on one occasion having a shell tear through the sleeve of his flying overalls. One engine caught fire temporarily and the petrol tanks were holed, and he limped back to England, having to pump the undercarriage down to land as the hydraulic system had also been shot away. He took part in the first air raid on Berlin, before the major air attacks with up to 1000 bombers were launched.
After two tours of service (60 trips) he was posted back to New Zealand to take command of the coastal defence (No. 1) Squadron at Whenuapai. He then formed the nucleus of No. 40 Transport Squadron, with Dakotas and Lodestar aircraft, piloting airmen and freight to the various Pacific bases. During this period he flew the first Dakota to land in New Zealand. He logged more than 600 hours of flying in five months on the transport missions.
He then returned to England, to be posted to No. 487 Mosquito Squadron. He commanded a flight in strafing operations on D-Day, and was engaged in destroying Nazi V-bomb sites on trips in this squadron. He was promoted to wing commander after D-Day. The citation for his D.F.C., awarded after 30 major bombing attacks within a year—including the Kiel docks and Krupps yards—said that he showed a marked ability to find and bomb his primary targets. The citation for the bar to his D.F.C., awarded after his eighty-first mission, said his courage and perseverance over heavily defended targets had been most marked. He was mentioned in dispatches in 1942.
In the closing stages of the war Mr Lucas flew delivery flights of Lancasters from Canada to Scotland, and at the end of the war he was officer commanding at the R.N.Z.A.F. station at Mechanics Bay, Auckland.
After his war service was completed in November, 1945, he farmed for a year in Otago, but in August, 1947, sold his property and formed Southern Scenic Air Services in Queenstown with the one Auster which he possessed at the time. It was from this time that he became even more well known, particularly to back-country men, from station owners to deer cullers, goat shooters, and mountaineers, and to many thousands of tourists and sightseers.
To have flown with Mr Lucas dropping supplies to deer cullers with sheer mountain walls towering thousands of feet above the aircraft and seemingly hurtling towards it at 100 miles an hour would have been unnerving in any other circumstance. But his command of the machine in the confined quarters of deep, narrow river valleys and his outstanding knowledge of the mountains inspired confidence.
An overseas writer described Mr Lucas as having “pioneered a new era of colonisation” by opening up speedily and efficiently the backblocks areas, the development of which might otherwise have been delayed 25 years. Certainly his work in helping pest destruction, both by supplying hunters in the field and dropping poison, and his large-scale topdressing and sowing operations over the years have helped bring thousands more acres of our high country into production.
“Popeye” Lucas To Come Back To Earth
[Specially written for "The Press” by BRIAN CLEMENS]
One of New Zealand’s most noted war-time bomber pilots, Fred ("Popeye”) Lucas, who became even more widely known in the postwar years for pioneering the use of aircraft in rabbit poisoning and topdressing operations in this country, has followed his family’s long traditions of farming with the purchase of the remote 34,000-acre Cecil Peak high country station on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. With his wife and five children he will settle on the property, which he purchased from Mr Alec Burnett, next week. The station is inaccessible except by launch, and the s.s. Earnslaw.
Mr Lucas was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for leading or taking part in 81 bomber raids over Germany and occupied Europe. It was a far cry from dropping bombs over Germany to air dropping trout fry in Lake Paringa, in far South Westland, superphosphate and poison pellets on high-country stations, and food supplies to deer-cullers’ camps in the most inaccessible mountain regions. But on the completion of his war service Mr Lucas saw the very real uses, to which aircraft could be put in developing and penetrating the high, back country areas of the southern part of the South Island, and in overcoming the formidable obstacles of these places, most of which are inaccessible except by foot.
With only one plane, a tiny Auster, he formed Southern Scenic Air Services, of which he became managing director and chief pilot, at Queenstown in 1947, and later this company took over West Coast Airways from the National Airways Corporation. He sold his interest in the air companies about 18 months ago and until recently had owned the Lower Shotover Hotel in Central Otago. His airlines became known throughout New Zealand and much further afield for the diversity of work which they undertook, and were generally acknowledged as among the most versatile air companies in the world. As well as operating regular scenic flights over the Mount Cook and glacier regions, the Southern Lakes, and Fiordland, and scheduled flights between Queenstown and Dunedin, Mr Lucas fed an army of about 100 Government-employed deer shooters, dropping supplies to their remote mountain camps, from the Urewera country in the North Island to Dusky Sound in the far southwest. He also’ dropped supplies to mountaineers, hut materials, carried out air taxi and charter work, aerial topdressing and sowing, fence dropping, rabbit poisoning, cattle' and sheep spotting for large stations, and fire spotting. He brought virtually all the whitebait catches from South Westland to the city markets, and carried out the first successful liberation of trout fry by air.
First Topdressing Pilot
Mr Lucas was the first pilot in New Zealand to carry out aerial, topdressing—on Lake Hayes station, Central Otago, in 1947 and distributed the first poison baits for rabbit destruction, on Mr Duncan Anderson’s Bog Roy station, Kurow, in 1947, before the advent of rabbit boards. Probably the biggest aerial sowing job in New Zealand was performed by his company when it spread seed over 6000 of the 32,000-acre Mount Winterslow station in Mid-Canterbury in 1947-48.
The variety of tasks which he has performed has thoroughly convinced high-country runholders in Central Otago and Southland of the effectiveness of aircraft above all other means in hastening the development of the mountainous areas. Nearly all stations have prepared airstrips in recent years.
Born at Tuapeka Mouth, Otago, Fred Lucas attended the local primary school and later the Otago Boys’ High School. He gained his pilots’ licence with the Otago Aero Club in 1935, and worked his way to England before the war, joining up with the R.A.F. He was posted to No. 10 Bomber Squadron in July, 1937, and two years later transferred to the R.N.Z.A.F. to fly Wellington bomber aircraft to New Zealand. War intervened however, and he became a pilot in No. 75 Squadron, flying Wellingtons on 60 bombing trips over Germany during the next two years. "Popeye” Lucas gained his nickname in his first days in the R.A.F., and a caricature of the real cartoon character was painted on the aircraft which he piloted on his bombing missions.
He claims, modestly, to have had “a few narrow squeaks" on these raids, on one occasion having a shell tear through the sleeve of his flying overalls. One engine caught fire temporarily and the petrol tanks were holed, and he limped back to England, having to pump the undercarriage down to land as the hydraulic system had also been shot away. He took part in the first air raid on Berlin, before the major air attacks with up to 1000 bombers were launched.
After two tours of service (60 trips) he was posted back to New Zealand to take command of the coastal defence (No. 1) Squadron at Whenuapai. He then formed the nucleus of No. 40 Transport Squadron, with Dakotas and Lodestar aircraft, piloting airmen and freight to the various Pacific bases. During this period he flew the first Dakota to land in New Zealand. He logged more than 600 hours of flying in five months on the transport missions.
He then returned to England, to be posted to No. 487 Mosquito Squadron. He commanded a flight in strafing operations on D-Day, and was engaged in destroying Nazi V-bomb sites on trips in this squadron. He was promoted to wing commander after D-Day. The citation for his D.F.C., awarded after 30 major bombing attacks within a year—including the Kiel docks and Krupps yards—said that he showed a marked ability to find and bomb his primary targets. The citation for the bar to his D.F.C., awarded after his eighty-first mission, said his courage and perseverance over heavily defended targets had been most marked. He was mentioned in dispatches in 1942.
In the closing stages of the war Mr Lucas flew delivery flights of Lancasters from Canada to Scotland, and at the end of the war he was officer commanding at the R.N.Z.A.F. station at Mechanics Bay, Auckland.
After his war service was completed in November, 1945, he farmed for a year in Otago, but in August, 1947, sold his property and formed Southern Scenic Air Services in Queenstown with the one Auster which he possessed at the time. It was from this time that he became even more well known, particularly to back-country men, from station owners to deer cullers, goat shooters, and mountaineers, and to many thousands of tourists and sightseers.
To have flown with Mr Lucas dropping supplies to deer cullers with sheer mountain walls towering thousands of feet above the aircraft and seemingly hurtling towards it at 100 miles an hour would have been unnerving in any other circumstance. But his command of the machine in the confined quarters of deep, narrow river valleys and his outstanding knowledge of the mountains inspired confidence.
An overseas writer described Mr Lucas as having “pioneered a new era of colonisation” by opening up speedily and efficiently the backblocks areas, the development of which might otherwise have been delayed 25 years. Certainly his work in helping pest destruction, both by supplying hunters in the field and dropping poison, and his large-scale topdressing and sowing operations over the years have helped bring thousands more acres of our high country into production.
