Stanford Tuck: Hero of the Battle of Britain: The Life of the Great Fighter Ace

By Helen Doe

"This new volume corrects the previous faults and presents the story of a pilot who was the right man at the right time." — Air Classics

The first full reappraisal of one of Britain’s great fighter aces, this book examines the truth behind Tuck’s 1956 biography, Fly for Your Life. It looks at the evidence behind the myths, checks out some of the exaggerated stories and reveals the real Stanford Tuck. In January 1942 Bob Tuck was the top-scoring British fighter ace with an official score of 29 enemy aircraft destroyed. With film-star looks he was the glamorous role model for the RAF publicity machine and an eager press and public wanting wartime heroes. He had joined the RAF in 1935 and quickly showed his excellent flying skills. In 1940 his Spitfire squadron was fighting over Dunkirk where he proved himself an expert shot. During the Battle of Britain his legendary prowess grew and he was posted to command a leaderless and demoralized squadron, this time flying Hurricanes. He continued to prove he was an outstanding fighter ace, gaining the rare distinction of three DFCs and then the DSO for his leadership. He was shot down over France in January 1942. Imprisoned in Stalag Luft III. His room-mate was Roger Bushell, the mastermind of the Great Escape and Tuck worked with him on the committee and was to be his partner in the escape. In January 1944 however, around 20 POWs, including Tuck, were purged to a new camp. Still determined to escape, when his camp was moved out on the Long March westwards, Tuck and a Polish officer took a risky chance and made their way east to Russian forces and thence to England. This book reveals a more complex man than the one-dimensional hero of the previous biography. Post war, he became good friends with the Luftwaffe ace, Adolf Galland, and was a key advisor with him on the film, Battle of Britain, and, often with his other friend, Douglas Bader, made many media appearances. His health suffered in later years from the impact of his war service and his imprisonment and he died aged 70 in 1987.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
• Release date: Nov 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781911714552

Book preview

STANFORD

TUCK

STANFORD

TUCK

Hero of the

Battle of Britain

The Life of the

Great Fighter Ace

GRUB STREET • LONDON

Published by

Grub Street

4 Rainham Close

London SW11 6SS

Copyright editorial, design and production © Grub Street 2023

Copyright text and photography © Helen Doe 2023

The right of Helen Doe to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP record for this title is available from the British library

ISBN-13: 978-1-911667-91-9

ePub ISBN: 978-1-911714-55-2

Mobi ISBN: 978-1-911714-55-2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Design by Myriam Bell Design, UK

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1: AN UNPROMISING CAREER START

CHAPTER 2: LEARNING TO FLY AND PRE-WAR RAF

CHAPTER 3: OPERATIONAL AT LAST AND SQUADRON LIFE

CHAPTER 4: COMBAT OVER DUNKIRK

CHAPTER 5: SOUTH WALES AND THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

CHAPTER 6: IN COMMAND AND THE LEGEND GROWS

CHAPTER 7: ON THE OFFENSIVE AND FALLING IN LOVE

CHAPTER 8: SHOT DOWN AND IMPRISONED

CHAPTER 9: A WAY MARKED EXIT

CHAPTER 10: HOMECOMING AND A RECKONING

CHAPTER 11: THE PRICE OF FAME

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX 1: FELLOW ESCAPERS

APPENDIX 2: MAP OF THE FINAL ESCAPE

APPENDIX 3: VICTORY CLAIMS

APPENDIX 4: THE JEWISH LINK

PRIMARY SOURCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTES

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

M

Y FIRST FORAY INTO

RAF history was writing the biography of my late father, Bob Doe, Fighter Pilot. This came out in 2015 and I then went back to ships and shipping history for a few years. However, the RAF in the Second World War remained of interest and, as it had been an enjoyable if steep learning curve, I began to think about a second fighter pilot biography. When researching my father’s time at St Eval I had come across Tuck’s name in their records due to his crash near Liskeard. Of the top Battle of Britain aces he was the one with just a single biography to date, Fly for Your Life, published in 1956, whereas Bader and Malan were the subjects of several biographies. I also found other records of Tuck while researching my 2015 book. At the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Tuck was one of the pilots, along with my father, who were invited to take part in the service at Westminster Abbey and who were presented to HM the Queen and Prince Philip. Each pilot was asked to fill in a short form with their activity during the Battle and subsequent career. I was struck by the different approach taken by the men, some added extra pages to show their success, but others such as Tuck were very restrained and just gave brief information. Tuck merely listed the squadrons in which he served and simply gave his occupation as mushroom farmer. This seemed slightly at odds with the man depicted in his earlier biography.

I got in touch with Michael Stanford-Tuck and he, his brother Simon and I had a convivial lunch in London and it was agreed I could have access to their father’s papers. Forrester’s 1950s autobiography of Tuck, Fly for Your Life, is inevitably referenced in this new biography for reasons of comparison and clarification, but not everyone will have read it or have it to hand. Those who loved Fly for Your Life, and there are legions of fans out there who were inspired, often at a young age, by Forrester’s book, may be disappointed if they seek something similar. Since the 1950s we have learned much more about the RAF in the Second World War and there are many more archival records now available. This book is quite different, has a different purpose, and today’s readers have very much more knowledge.

I pondered how to address Tuck in the book as there is much confusion over his Christian names and surnames. In childhood he was Bobby, colleagues called him Bob, Wings or Tucky but he preferred Robert and he added Stanford in 1940 to his surname although in official RAF records he was still called Tuck. With a few exceptions I have gone with Tuck after chapter 1 as this keeps it consistent for the reader.

In the course of charting an individual’s life you come across a whole raft of different topics all of which have their own experts and I don’t pretend to be knowledgeable about them all so there will be errors or omissions. For my previous biography I was taken to task on a famous book-selling website for the misspelling of a name which a reader seemed to think damaged the whole book. It was a tricky name and as I explained to my critic, I always have to mutter ‘I before E except after C’. To my amusement that same officer cropped up in relation to Tuck in a very brief context. I felt I had to include him and checked and double checked the spelling. So Air Commodore Walter Beisiegel, who was then a group captain and whose nickname not surprisingly was ‘Bicycle’, gets an honorary mention in this book. All other errors and omissions are mine and are very much not the fault of the kind people who read early versions.

All the way along the journey I have been helped by many people who have willingly offered advice and input. Thank you to several Tuck relatives who helped with early research, John Knox and his sister Joanna Mason and their cousin Jane Figgis. Moreover, Michael Baker-Harber kindly agreed to talk to me about his late father.

This book’s gestation has taken rather longer than usual due to inaccessible archives and other delays during the pandemic so thank you to Simon Fowler and Tina Hampson who helped get archival material to me when I could not get to Kew. Other archivists and librarians have been very supportive. Iain MacDowall, the archivist at St Dunstan’s College patiently hunted though old copies of the school journal. Kathrin Pieren the collections manager and curator at the Jewish Museum sent me useful copies of cards in the collection and Martin Sugarman and I had a very helpful discussion. Katy Maydon from the library at Goldsmiths Company tracked down an item in a ledger and Kory Penney the archivist at the Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, located the Marconi crew agreements. Thank you to Stuart Hadaway of Air Historical Branch and to Dr Harry Raffal and the collections team at the RAF Museum. Dr Matthias Reiss of the University of Exeter gave some good advice on post-war Germany which led me to the Bild Zeitung archives in Berlin. Hannah Keet translated the resulting important set of German news articles sent by Renate Buhren of the Axel Springer Syndication. Franciszek Grabowski translated a Polish document and helped with other sources. Sometimes information comes in different ways. Neill Graham left a review of Fly for Your Life on the Goodreads website and it transpired he knew Tuck’s escape companion Kustrzyński so Neill and I were subsequently in email contact. Lockdown gave historians a deeper appreciation of the wonders of access to online material so a very big thank you to the University of Exeter library and database team. Your resources are quite amazing.

A big thank you to John Willis who has been so supportive and who arranged for the Myers family to let me have access to the transcripts of their father’s original letters. Thank you also to Bernard and Robert Myers for their kindness. Dr Kristen Alexander gave me sight of her impressive PhD thesis on the effects of imprisonment on Australian POWs from Sagan and sent other useful material. Thank you to her and of course to Miss Millie.

Social media gets a bad press but Twitter historians are a very supportive group and they have cheered and encouraged me in many ways. Through this I had some useful information generously supplied by Air Marshal ‘Black’ Robertson. A recommended podcast is For You the War is Over and thank you to Dave Robertson and Tony Hoskins, additionally Dave very thoughtfully sent me several useful escape records. Via Twitter, Mike Wainwright of the RAF Hornchurch Heritage Centre alerted me to a wartime diary belonging to Flying Officer Leslie Flick. Thank you to him and to the copyright owners Jennie Braddock, Ros Hipkiss and Caroline Watson, Flick’s daughters. At one stage during lockdown I decided to do an online course provided by Jericho Writers called Creative Non-fiction. It was great and took me nicely out of my literal historian’s comfort zone with an excellent tutor and supportive group.

Additional and much needed support and content has come from Sir Antony Beevor who read the relevant chapter on the escape from Germany and made some suggestions. Professor Richard Overy took time out to read a draft as did Stephen Bungay, both very knowledgeable and busy people. Another busy person who found time to comment and provide help is that lovely Battle of Britain expert, Andy Saunders. Air Vice-Marshal John Feesey again was kind enough to read early drafts of my work and has the gentlest and most charming way of providing helpful input. Thank you to John and Natalie of Grub Street Publishing who have been enthusiastic supporters of this book and eagle-eyed in their editing.

I return once more to Michael and Simon Stanford-Tuck and thank them for allowing me access to the personal papers of their father which are such an important element of this book. They have both been very patient with my many questions. They have been supportive all the way through and wholly openminded about anything I might find. I thank them for trusting me with their father’s story.

The crucial person I need to thank is my husband, Michael, who has yet again been understanding as I spend hours at my desk. Partners of writers have to be very patient people and I could not have written this book without his considerable support and encouragement.

Helen Doe

April 2023

PROLOGUE

T

HERE WAS A FLURRY OF

biographies and memoirs in the immediate post-war period as individuals sought to give their personal perspective and publishers looked to supply a ready market to celebrate wartime achievements. Paul Brickhill, an Australian journalist and prisoner of war, had published The Great Escape in 1950 to much acclaim. As a result he was approached by fellow POW, Douglas Bader, to write his biography. Published in 1954, Reach for the Sky was a great success, around 172,000 copies were sold in the first few months and it became one of the biggest-selling hardbacks in this period.

¹

Tuck’s biography, Fly for Your Life, came out two years later. It is not clear whether Tuck was looking for a writer or whether Larry Forrester saw the success of Brickhill’s book and sought to emulate it by writing the career of another ace. Tuck was a good subject as one of the highest-ranking fighter aces with a credited score of 29 enemy aircraft to his name, his high profile in the skies over Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain coupled with his time as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III. Forrester, born in 1924 in Glasgow, had also served in the RAF, as a flight lieutenant in Transport Command in the Far East. Post-war he became a journalist, but was now writing material for television programmes. Forrester and his wife were described as ‘the ideas merchants, detectives, writers and checkers, behind an annual average of 120 programmes including Ask Pickles, Guess My Story, Find the Link, and House Magazine’. He worked with Tuck on the biography and also interviewed members of Tuck’s family, not all of whom were happy with the project.² It was they felt, too exaggerated and Peggy his older sister was not sure about the way some family matters were depicted.

With a good eye for publicity in the period leading up to publication, Forrester managed to get Tuck as the subject of an episode of the new BBC programme, This is Your Life. Imported as an idea from America, this was the first series on British television. Previous subjects included Stanley Matthews the footballer, Yvonne Bailey of SOE, Donald Campbell the speed record holder and also included a market porter, a Red Cross nurse and a Methodist minister. Tuck was the last subject in this first experimental series and it was broadcast in May 1956 to a very large audience since there were then just two television channels.³

So for the 15th episode Eamon Andrews presented the big red book to Tuck. Larry Forrester and Joyce Tuck had worked together to spring the surprise. The guests came from various periods in his life; a schoolmaster, two RAF fighter pilot colleagues, two pub landlords, one from Wales and one from Norfolk, a police superintendent to remind him of one of his many crashes and his wife Joyce and his brother, Jack Tuck. Finally there was a reunion with a fellow POW.⁴ The new series was hailed a success and many more series followed with expanded guest lists and Tuck would appear on two later episodes as a guest for Douglas Bader in March 1982 and Laddie Lucas in April 1984.

The programme was good early publicity for the biography itself which was due out in October 1956 and the publishers and Forrester worked hard to promote it. An advertisement claimed the book as ‘The most thrilling aviation story ever published’.⁵ It was partly serialised in newspapers such as the Liverpool Echo in the lead up to the publication.⁶ The book was launched in style at the White Hart pub at Brasted in Kent, the watering hole of choice for pilots serving at Biggin Hill during the Battle of Britain. Surrounded by fellow wartime pilots, Tuck was filmed by cameras from Independent Television.⁷

The reviews of the book were mixed. ‘A thrilling tale, well told’ wrote the reviewer in the Birmingham Post while the Times Literary Supplement commented ‘the whole story makes good reading except for the occasional affectation of fancy bits of English’.⁸ Patrick Gibbs in the Daily Telegraph praised Tuck’s career and described him as ‘typical – the archetype, perhaps, of all those restless young men who saw in the ’30s the advertisement Fly with the R.A.F. and found their future short and lively.’ He was, however, more critical of the author. ‘It was in peace and war a colourful career, and Mr. Forrester has not been sparing in the colours.’⁹

Tuck’s career is well known because of this early biography and almost all later articles on him take their information from it. It describes many of the big moments in Tuck’s career. He certainly had his fair share of experiences and some were extreme. Forrester wrote about Tuck’s early life, his early RAF career, fighting over Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain. By January 1942 he was Wing Commander Stanford Tuck, the highly praised RAF ace, one of the top three, lauded in many newspapers. With film star good looks he was the darling of the RAF publicity department and a legend to many. Pre-publication he had just returned from a tour of North America with ‘Sailor’ Malan where he met senior US military figures and rubbed shoulders with Hollywood stars. However his high-profile wartime life had come to an abrupt halt when he was shot down over France and became a prisoner of war. From master of the skies to this sudden end to his freedom, penned in a camp with thousands of fellow prisoners, it was an adjustment that, despite the heroic tales written by Paul Brickhill, was far from easy. There followed three years of incarceration working with his room-mate, Roger Bushell, the mastermind of the Great Escape, only to be purged with some other members of the escape task force and sent to a new camp, Belaria. The Great Escape happened without them, 76 men heading for freedom. The news of the murder of 50 of those men including Bushell had a powerful impact on the remaining POWs such as Tuck. No wonder Tuck was still determined to escape and he did so as the Germans moved POWs westward in the Long March ahead of the advancing Russian army. He and his companion, Kustrzynski, were eventually evacuated from Odessa. The book finishes with him returning to Britain.

Forrester wrote a fast-paced and exciting book to satisfy the public’s appetite for tales of heroes of the Second World War. It put Tuck firmly at the centre of all action as the death-defying hero with unerring skill in shooting down enemy aircraft. The bulk of the book concentrated on his war exploits in the air while his time as a prisoner of war was almost skimmed over. It finishes with a happy ending as he returns to England to rejoin his future wife. With extensive invented dialogue and a loose interpretation of the facts it was obviously aimed at potential filmmakers, reading more like a screenplay. The film of Brickhill’s biography of Bader starring Kenneth More, Reach for the Sky, was released the same year so Forrester had high hopes. Forrester would later achieve success in Hollywood, co-writing the script for the film of the Pearl Harbor attack, Tora! Tora! Tora! and writing episodes for popular television series like Hart to Hart.

What follows here is a more detailed contextual look at Tuck’s life and career with the benefit of far more material now available to the researcher. It looks beyond Forrester’s hyperbole and invented dialogue to uncover the facts and shows the views of Tuck’s contemporaries. The final chapters look at his post-war life when he married, had two sons and, after leaving the RAF, eventually settled as a farmer in Kent. It is a story of high achievement, but also moments of considerable difficulty and trauma. We know more today about the impact of war service on individuals and their families, but Tuck’s generation hid their psychological scars and just got on with life sometimes to their detriment.

CHAPTER 1

AN UNPROMISING CAREER START

T

HE

S

TANFORD

T

UCK LEGEND BEGAN

at a London Underground station. On 16 September 1935, around 30 young men gathered on Baker Steet platform that morning dressed mostly in the usual interwar civilian garb of blazers and flannels. This group, many still in their teens, were RAF officer recruits eagerly joining an equally young service that still needed to differentiate itself from the army and the Royal Navy. The recruits were heading for their first experience of service life at RAF Uxbridge where they would be kitted out with uniforms and learn how to salute.

As the young men met for the first time they made swift judgements about their fellow students in terms of background, experience and, as was very typical of interwar Britain, class. Some young men might feel the need to boast or embroider their background to achieve stature in this mixed group and fit in, while others had no need to exaggerate. Mike Lister Robinson, who was seen leisurely swinging a tennis racket as if he was off on a country weekend, was the wealthy son of Sir Roy (later Lord) Robinson, chairman of the Forestry Commission which would be a vital resource in the coming years.¹ Looking back across the years from 1955, Tuck recalled his clear first impressions of some of the group, noticeably those from overseas.

There was Johnny Loudon – very tall and so thin and pale you’d have thought he had nine toes in the grave! And Caesar Hull, a little southern Rhodesian, neat and nimble and tough as nails, with a curious, hoarse voice.

Then there was Eddie Hollings, always smiling and mad keen on every kind of sport; his great pal Dougie Douglas, an Australian who’d served a few years in the Navy; Jock Gibson, ginger haired and very Scottish; ‘Buti’ Sheehan, a strapping South African; Pat Tipping and Laurie Hunt from New Zealand, and Jack Van, a breezy Canadian.²

According to Tuck’s first biographer, at 18 Bob Tuck could already claim two- and-a-half years’ service at sea on merchant ships; a tough life destined to harden any teenager. As for his background, his father was a retired army captain, now head of an export business and who lived in a large rambling house with several acres of land.³ The problem is these details of Tuck’s early life do not bear scrutiny.

Bob was born on 1 July 1916 in Catford, South London. The third and youngest child of Stanley and Ethel Tuck, he was christened Roland Robert Stanford Tuck and he had an older sister Peggy and a brother, Jack. The Tuck family had originally been goldsmiths and jewellers and Bob’s father, Stanley, was inducted into the Livery Company of Goldsmiths in 1917. It is a little hard to pin down Stanley’s occupations as he did not follow this career. In 1901 age 13 Bob’s father left school and was working as a clerk, by 1910 he was described as a commercial clerk and then as a finance manager in 1911.⁴

Stanley came late to the army in the First World War as married men were not called up until mid-1916. By 1917 he was in the reserve as a lance corporal in the Sussex Yeomanry while still working as a company secretary to a limited company.⁵ He gained a commission entering as a second lieutenant and in 1917 his administrative skills were in full use as the messing officer for the Welsh Reserve based at Herne Bay in Kent. The Armistice was signed on 11 November and two days later Stanley was moved to Sussex to Crowborough Camp. This was a very large transit camp and with the end of war there was anticipation of a mass movement of men returning from overseas.

Stanley was again a messing officer but this time for a brigade. His appointment was with 5th Battalion of the Queen’s Regiment and here he managed the mess arrangements for up to 4,000 men. Such a position required authority and he was appointed as an acting captain but ‘without the pay of that rank’. Stanley served until May the following year and this was duly noted in the London Gazette.

5th Bn., West Surrey Regt.—2nd Lt. S. L. Tuck (since relinquished) to be Lt. 1st May 1919. Lt. S. L. Tuck (temp. Capt., Spec. List) relinquishes his commission on account of ill-health, 28th May 1919, and retains the rank of Lt.⁶

Stanley may have left the army but he did not wish to lose his acting rank and in July he wrote to query the London Gazette entry. He was informed that the unnamed disability which had caused him to leave the army was neither ‘in’ nor ‘by’ his service, nor had he served in the acting rank for the minimum required time of six months. Stanley fought back proving that his disability was caused through military service, had been certified as such by medical boards, and that he had held the rank of temporary captain for six months and 15 days.⁷ His appeal was successful and another entry was added to the London Gazette on 6 August 1919 confirming his rank of captain.

Stanley continued to style himself as Captain Tuck, which was probably of some benefit in the commercial world, although the retention and use of army rank when no longer on active service was to become something of an issue. With so many soldiers returning to civilian life, ranks were liberally used to give status and some were very dubious. In 1925 a question was raised in the House of Commons by Lieutenant Colonel Applin, MP for Enfield. He asked the Secretary of State for War to explain who had the right to retain and use their army rank when no longer serving; and also ‘…what steps are taken to prevent the improper use of military titles by those who have no longer the right to them?’⁸

Sir Laming Worthington Evans, a man not unused to social climbing, replied:

Under the Regulations, only retired officers of the Regular Army and officers retiring from the auxiliary forces with 15 years’ commissioned service have the privilege of retaining their rank. There are special rules for the retention of rank held during the Great War, which are contained in Army Order 376 of 1918. It is not in itself a legal offence for an officer to call himself by a military title after he has ceased to have a right to it by the rules and custom of the Service, and I have no power to prevent it. It is a question of honour and good taste.⁹

By the time Captain Tuck left the army and returned to his pre-war administrative role, his children were aged nine and seven and his youngest child, known as Bobby, was just three. There are no records of their early schooling except that young Bobby was enrolled at a nearby independent school in Lewisham, St Dunstan’s College. The school was founded in 1888 and until 1922 it had for many years been led by an outstanding headmaster, Charles Maddock Stuart, an educational pioneer who emphasised science and encouraged boys to learn by doing.¹⁰ Although, by the time young Bobby Tuck was there in the interwar years, Stuart had retired and the next period for the school was marked by considerable disruption and uncertainty. Stuart’s selected successor, the Reverend Frank Forder, would have made a significant impact on the school but considerable ill-health resulted in many absences and he died in October 1930. His successor, Usherwood, inherited many problems including severe financial restrictions but he steadied the school and remained until 1938.

The costs of a fee-paying school were a stretch for many parents, but the Forrester biography suggests a comfortable lifestyle for the Tuck family. The family home, The Lodge, was ‘a rambling old house in the suburb of Catford’, set in three acres of grounds.¹¹ Unfortunately this is a complete invention. The family was not well off and, on leaving the army, Stanley Tuck returned to the family home which was at 1 Ravensbourne Crescent, Catford, a modest three- bedroom semi-detached suburban house backing onto St Dunstan’s College. In 1921 Stanley Tuck was the company secretary to Critchley, Hope & Co Ltd based in the City of London. This company was incorporated in 1919 and was a family company. Its directors were all related to Stanley, Henry was his older brother and Dunn and Burford were his brothers-in-law.¹²

Truth, a newspaper based in Westminster, which was established as a very early investigative journal, specialised in warnings to investors. In 1921 it carried an item on Stanley’s company.

An amazingly cool attempt to raise capital is being made by Critchley, Hope and Co., Limited, 34, Walbrook, E.C. By means of a private and confidential circular to lady investors—possibly men also, but my copy was addressed to a lady—are invited to subscribe for an issue of £20,000 in 10 per cent. cumulative preference shares to provide further working capital. The circular is signed by the secretary, S. L. Tuck, and gives the names of the directors—Messrs. H. J. Tuck, F. G. Burford, C. E. Davis, and Captain E. N. Dunn. It is said that the company’s reputation is well known in Peru, Chile, Spain, and West Africa. This may be, but here, at any rate, the company is not what you would call famous, and if you want particulars as a prospective shareholder you will turn in vain to the Stock Exchange Official Intelligence and the Stock Exchange Year Book. These works do not so much as mention Critchley, Hope and Co. Nevertheless, the directors of this obscure concern have the effrontery