In November 1943, Lukis took over No. 9 Operational Group (No. 9 OG), the RAAF's main mobile formation in the Pacific at the time, after its commander, Air Commodore Joe Hewitt, was sacked by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal George Jones, over allegations of poor discipline and morale. The change in leadership dismayed the US-led South West Pacific Area Command, whose senior air officers, Lieutenant General George Kenney and Major General Ennis Whitehead, did not hold Lukis in the same high regard that they did his predecessor. For the next two months, No. 9 OG supported the Allied invasion of New Britain. On 17 January 1944, Lukis mounted an operation with a force of seventy-three aircraft comprising Bristol Beaufort light bombers and Kittyhawk and Spitfire fighters, which was the largest strike undertaken by the Australians to that date. However it encountered no opposition, and Lukis voiced his concerns to Whitehead that the "mopping up" role he had been assigned was costing his fighter pilots the opportunity to engage in air-to-air combat.