Joseph Henry Lucas

Joseph Henry Lucas was born in Toronto, Ontario, on June 14, 1912, and completed his matriculation at Riverdale Collegiate. He became interested in aviation and spent many hours at the Leaside airport where the Toronto Flying Club was operating. He enrolled in a newly formed aviation school in a downtown Toronto garage but the school was short lived. He finally got his start at age 16 with National Air Transport apprenticing under S.A. 'Bill' Rouse, working towards an Air Engineer's Licence. He quickly passed his A & C exams which covered routine servicing responsibilities, with authority to declare an aircraft or engine fit for flight. Then he proceeded to complete the requirements for the B & D Certificate allowing sign-out privileges for both airframe and engines after major overhaul. This achievement made him the youngest B & D engineer in Canada.

By this time National Air Transport had moved to Barker Field, named after Major W.G. Barker, V.C. Here Lucas met pilot Tom Higgins and spent most of 1932 accompanying him on 'bush' flights and servicing aircraft in Sudbury, Chapleau and Gogama. He then returned to work at the National Air Transport's hangar until it burned on November 12, 1935. After an interview in Montreal with H. Molson, he was hired for a position in charge of maintenance for Dominion Skyways at Senneterre, Quebec. His previous bush experience helped in his promotion to Maintenance Superintendent and a move to Rouyn, Quebec, by 1937.

In late 1937, when a report of an untouched food cache reached headquarters of the Quebec Forestry Department, pilot Ralph Spradbrow and Lucas were asked to conduct an aerial search for a group of missing surveyors. On New Year's Eve, shortly before dark, the party of fifteen men was spotted on an island 13 miles from the Ontario-Quebec border. They had missed the food cache due to deep snow and had subsisted on fourteen rabbits over a period of 39 days. Early on New Year's morning the airlift of the weakened, hungry men began. Flying a Noorduyn Norseman, Spradbrow first flew the weakest of the group to hospital while Lucas remained behind and prepared food for the others. Three more trips were made to complete the rescue.

For a brief time in 1938 Lucas joined de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd., which was beginning to manufacture Tiger Moths, but by the end of the year he returned to Dominion Skyways in Noranda, Quebec. At this time initial plans were being made for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) and the Dominion Skyways proposal for Air Observer Schools (AOS) was accepted. Lucas was placed in charge of all maintenance at No. 1 AOS in Toronto when it opened on May 27, 1940. In order to use No. 1 AOS as a model, W.R. 'Wop' May flew his senior staff to Toronto for training prior to opening No. 2 AOS in Edmonton. Lucas' responsibilities grew with the opening of each new school, for he was in charge of all Dominion Skyway's maintenance.

In 1942 Lucas moved to St. Jean, Quebec, and took on the additional job of assistant general manager until the end of the war when he was contacted by the War Assets Corporation and subsequently set up an office in Montreal where he became chief of demolition and inspector, Aircraft Division, for one year.

He joined Aircraft Industries of Canada Ltd. in 1946. Although sales of war surplus aircraft was the original intent of the company, overhaul services under Lucas soon drew the attention of operators. When a Douglas DC-3 went down during a search in 1947, Aircraft Industries Ltd. got the salvage contract. This led to other government contract work with Canso conversions. Lucas then became Vice-President/General Manager at St. Jean, Quebec, and the company grew rapidly. Overhaul orders for the North American Harvard, DC-3 and Canso PBY aircraft, along with seasonal calls for engine changes, radio installations and overhaul work necessitated an increase in staff and space.

In 1954 the Babb Company bought Aircraft Industries and made Lucas President/General Manager. He was also asked to head the first Airworthiness Council under Transport Minister George Hees. He held these positions until February 13, 1961, when he suffered a fatal heart attack.

In the late 1960's Joe Lucas was approached by Austin Airways' chief pilot, Jim Bell, about the feasibility and engineering possibilities of attaching water tanks to a Canso to make a more effective water bomber. He soon had two removable tanks, each holding 350 gallons (1,325 L) designed and fastened onto the sides of a Canso's body, and tests proved this invention to be a success. A few years later, improvements in design had the water scoops built into the underside of the Canso.

Joseph Henry Lucas was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991 at a ceremony held in Edmonton, Alberta.