D-Day Funeral for Blackpool war hero and chauffeur to the stars including Frank Sinatra

Frank Lucas from Blackpool, who died at the age of 98, played a key role in the major event of the Second World War as part of ground crew at a Royal Air Force base after joining the RAF as an 18-year-old.

His proud family said he was proud of his war service, although always keen to play it down, and they wanted to make sure that it was reflected in his funeral at Lytham Crematorium, as Jeeps and other military features were part of the procession.

Frank, who went on to be a driver to the stars in Blackpool, did several jobs in the RAF, including a Bowser Operator refuelling Spitfires and Hurricanes.

At RAF Silloth in Cumbria, he worked on Wimpy bombers and from there he moved down to the American Air base at Welford Park near Newbury and was there with the Americans for the D-Day operations working on gliders.

As well as refuelling the planes, he also painted the black and white Invasion lines on the wings and body of Spitfires and gliders that helped Allied Forces to recognise their own planes from the ground during D-Day.

He met his wife Sheila at a party when he was still in the RAF in late 1944, while on leave back home to Blackpool.

Sheila had left Birmingham to get away from the bombing that was happening at the time and ended up in Blackpool working in a shop. They married in 1950.

After leaving the RAF at the war's end in 1945, he started working for his father, also called Frank and who ran a luxury car business, as a chauffeur for the rich and famous who came to Blackpool.

Among those he drove was Frank Sinatra, from the airport to the Clifton Hotel, and then on to the Opera House Theatre.

"He fondly recalled that Mr Sinatra exited from the front entrance of the theatre, and was bombarded by fans who were waiting for him outside," said Frank's granddaughter Samantha. "The next time he came to Blackpool, my grandfather pulled into the car park at the back stage door entrance of the Opera House instead.

"This is where 'the incident' as my grandfather likes to call it happened.

"At this point he was already married to my grandmother, and she was waiting outside the large green door at the back of the theatre where they took scenery in and out of the Opera House and the Winter Gardens. "

"As Mr Sinatra exited the building, he spotted my grandmother waiting and turned to her as asked, “Are you waiting for me, honey?” My grandmother without a second thought responded with, “No, I’m waiting for the driver.” When Sinatra got into the car he asked my grandfather who the lady was, and he told him that was “his missus.” Later on my grandmother told my grandfather, she could have bitten her tongue off for her response."

Frank's family recall that wartime Prime Minster Winston Churchill was another person Frank drive when he came to Blackpool for Conservative Party conferences in 1950 and 1953.

On one occasion my grandfather had Mr. Churchill and Anthony Eden, his successor as PM, in the back of his car. When they arrived at the airport, Frank saluted Churchill who then shook his hand and thanked him for driving him. "When my grandfather leaned into the back of the car there were two half smoked cigars sat in the ashtray in the back, " said Samantha.

Other people he drive included, Bob Hope and Laurel & Hardy.

He was a keen musician, playing the saxophone and clarinet and was in a band called Butch Colins and his Swingtet which played upstairs at the Co-Op and at the Opera House as a home guard band.

On one occasion they played for American servicemen at one of their bases.

"My grandfather was proud of Blackpool and his family and we were proud of him," said Samantha.

“The things he did in the RAF he didn’t see as being that significant, but to me, they are. Without him refuelling the planes they wouldn’t have been able to take off, without the Invasion lines being painted there was a chance the planes could have been brought down by friendly fire.

"He inspired me every day." Frank leaves daughter's Suzanne and Deborah and along with Samantha, two other grandchildren, Jonathan and Steven, plus four great-grandchildren.