Bill Lucas

William Ernest Lucas (16 January 1917 – 24 March 2018) was a British RAF officer and long-distance runner who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics. In 2017, Lucas was noted for having been Britain's oldest living Olympian.

Early life Lucas was born in London, the only child of a bricklayer who had served as a sergeant with the Northamptonshire Regiment during the First World War and had received the Military Medal. After leaving grammar school at 15 in 1932, he worked in London at several jobs, as a packer for a trading house, a clerk for a publisher and as an assessor for an insurance company.

Military career When war was declared in 1939, Lucas chose to serve in the Royal Air Force, joining the RAFVR in 1940. After victory in the Battle of Britain made the induction of further pilots in the fighter stream unnecessary, Lucas was posted to RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland for further training as a bomber pilot on Vickers Wellingtons. Following his first tour, Lucas was again posted to Scotland through late 1944, receiving a promotion to war-substantive flight lieutenant on 11 May 1944. In Scotland, he served as an instructor with No. 19 Operational Training Unit at RAF Kinloss. While there, he met a fellow instructor, Wing Commander Hamish Mahaddie, as a result of which Lucas soon joined the Pathfinder Force in October 1944.

For the remainder of the war, Lucas served with the Pathfinder Force, earning a mention in despatches in January 1945 and receiving the DFC in July. He left the RAF after the end of the war, with the rank of squadron leader.

Running career Lucas returned from the military in 1946 and worked in insurance while raising a family.

Death Lucas lived in Cowfold, West Sussex, with his wife, Sheena. He died on 24 March 2018 at the age of 101.