Robert Stanford Tuck

Tuck led his first combat patrol on 23 May 1940, over Dunkirk, claiming three German fighters shot down. The following day he shot down two German bombers and as aerial fighting intensified over the next two weeks his score rapidly mounted. Tuck was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) on 11 June[10] and received it from King George VI at RAF Hornchurch on 28 June. The citation for this award, published in the London Gazette read "...this officer led his flight in company with his squadron on two offensive patrols over Northern France. As a result of one of these patrols in which the squadron engaged a formation of some 60 enemy aircraft, the Squadron Commander was later reported missing, and the flight commander wounded and in hospital. Flight Lieutenant Tuck assumed command, and on the following day led the squadron, consisting of only eight aircraft, on a further patrol engaging an enemy formation of fifty aircraft. During these engagements the squadron has shot down ten enemy aircraft and possibly another twenty-four. Throughout the combats this officer has displayed great dash and gallantry.[10]

Bob Stanford Tuck, colour painting by Cuthbert Orde, 1941

His combat successes continued into July and August as the Battle of Britain gathered pace, although he himself was forced to bail out on 18 August. While attacking a formation of Junkers Ju 88s over Kent, he shot one down and damaged another. However, during the head on attack at Ju 88, when he overtook it, cannon shells hit his Spitfire and he was forced to bail out near Tunbridge Wells. He fell at Tucks Cottage, near Park Farm, Horsmonden.[NB 1] In another incident on 25 August Tuck's Spitfire was badly damaged during combat with a Dornier Do 17 bomber, which he destroyed 15 miles off the coast. His aircraft had a dead engine, but he glided it back to dry land and made a forced landing.

On 11 September, during the height of the Battle of Britain, Tuck was promoted to acting squadron leader and posted to command the Hawker Hurricane-equipped No. 257 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Coltishall (his substantive rank had been raised to flight lieutenant on 3 September[12]). He led his squadron into combat through September and continued to claim further victories. His last two official victories of the Battle were on 28 October, where he claimed two "probable" Bf 109s. He received a Bar to his DFC on 25 October.[13] The official citation for his second DFC, published in the London Gazette reads:

Flight Lieutenant Roland Robert Stanford TUCK, D.F.C. (37306).
Since 11 June 1940, this officer has destroyed six enemy aircraft, and probably destroyed or damaged six more. One day in August, 1940, he attacked three Junkers 88's, destroyed two and damaged the third. Later in the month he intercepted two Ju 88's at 15,000 feet, and in a head-on attack, destroyed one. In a similar attack on the second, a cannon shell blew away his oil and glycol tank and a piece of his propeller, but he reached the coast and landed by parachute. In September, 1940, he shot down one Messerschmitt 110 and probably a Messerschmitt 109, and one week later destroyed a Bf 109 over the sea. Flight Lieutenant Tuck has displayed gallant and determined leadership.[13]

The identity of this later victory, achieved on 23 September 1940, is believed by one source to be the future German ace Hans-Joachim Marseille. Flying Bf 109 E-7, Werknummer (W.Nr) 5094, Marseille was pursued to the Cap Gris Nez area near Calais, France, and forced to take to his parachute. He was later rescued by a Heinkel He 59 float plane. Tuck was credited with the destruction of W.Nr. 5094, whose pilot, Marseille, was the only recorded German airmen rescued in the location on that date.[14] Tuck's official claim was for a Bf 109 destroyed off Griz Nez at 09:45—the only pilot to submit a claim in that location.[15] Another states that Pilot Officer George Bennions from No. 41 Squadron RAF dispatched Marseille. This same source credits Tuck with a victory over Oberleutnant Walter Radlick of III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 53.[16]

In January 1941, Tuck was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)[17] and the citation published in the London Gazette reads:

Acting Squadron Leader Roland Robert Stanford TUCK, D.F.C. (37306), No. 257 Squadron.
This officer has commanded his squadron with great success, and his outstanding leadership, courage and skill have been reflected in its high morale and efficiency. Since 4 October 1940, he has destroyed four hostile aircraft, bringing his total victories to at least eighteen.[17]

In March 1941, Tuck was awarded a second Bar to his DFC,[18] the citation published in the London Gazette reading:

Acting Squadron Leader Roland Robert Stanford TUCK, D.S.O., D.F.C. (37306), No. 257 Squadron.
This officer has displayed conspicuous gallantry and initiative in searching for and attacking enemy raiders, often in adverse weather conditions. Since December, 1940, he has destroyed three enemy bombers and one fighter, thus bringing his total victories to twenty two.[18]

In June 1941, Tuck survived being shot down over the English Channel, being rescued by a Gravesend coal barge. Tuck claimed a total of seven destroyed, four probables and two damaged on the Hawker Hurricane.[19]

Tuck had an extraordinary piece of ill-fortune when he intercepted a German bomber heading towards Cardiff. He fired at extreme range in poor light, causing it to jettison its bombs in open countryside instead of on the city. The last of its stick of bombs caught one corner of an army training camp and killed one soldier. The soldier was the husband of Tuck's sister.[20]

Having already been the subject of one of Cuthbert Orde's iconic charcoal drawing portraits in September 1940, Tuck sat for a second picture by Orde – this time a full colour oil painting – in 1941.

In July, 1941, Tuck was promoted to acting wing commander and appointed wing leader at RAF Duxford where he led fighter sweeps into northern France. After a brief trip to America with Adolph Malan and Harry Broadhurst to evaluate lend-lease aircraft and train American pilots,[21][22] he returned to a posting at RAF Biggin Hill as wing leader. It was while flying from Biggin Hill that Tuck's last mission of the war occurred. On 28 January 1942, while on a low-level fighter sweep "Rhubarb" mission[23] over northern France, his Spitfire was hit by enemy ground-based flak near Boulogne and he was forced to crash land.

Captured by the very German troops Tuck had been firing upon as his aircraft was hit, he later recorded that their mood was understandably hostile and his own survival was certainly in question. However, his noted "Tuck's luck" came to his rescue when his captors spotted that, by a remarkable chance, one of his 20mm cannon shells had passed precisely down the barrel of an exactly similar sized ground weapon and had exploded therein, peeling open the barrel "like a banana". The German troops thought this hilarious and such "Good shooting Tommy!" that, in their enthusiasm to slap his back in congratulation, they were actually trampling on the bodies of their dead comrades. Saved for the moment, Tuck then spent the next couple of years in Stalag Luft III at Żagań (Sagan). There he participated in planning for the so-called Great Escape, but was moved to a satellite camp, Belaria, before the mass escape could be executed.[24] Tuck remained at Belaria until the camp was moved westwards from Russian forces advancing into Germany as part of the Long March. In company with the Polish RAF pilot Zbigniew "Zbishek" Kustrzyński, he finally escaped successfully on 1 February 1945 by arranging to be left behind in a barn as other POWs continued the westward march.[25] Tuck's Russian, learned from his childhood nanny, was now crucial as he spent some time fighting alongside the Russian troops until he managed eventually to find his way to the British Embassy in Moscow. He eventually boarded a ship from Russia to Southampton, England.[26]