Robert Roland
Stanford Tuck was born on July 1st 1916 at Catford, London. After leaving
St. Dunstan’s College, Reading in 1932 he became a sea cadet before
joining the RAF in 1935 with a posting to 3 FTS (Flight Training School)
at Grantham. Tuck then joined 65 Squadron in September 1935 until May 1940
when he was posted to 92 Squadron, based at Croydon, as a Flight Commander
During combat on May
23rd 1940, over Dunkirk, Tuck claimed three Bf110’s destroyed and a Bf109.
The following day he shot down two Do17’s, on May 25th he shared a Do17
and on June 2nd he shot down a Bf109, a He111 and damaged two more
Bf109’s. Due to his bravery Tuck was awarded the DFC on June 11th and
received it from King George VI at Hornchurch on June 28th
His combat successes
continued with a shared Do17 on July 8th, a damaged Ju88 on July 25th, a
shared Ju88 on August 13th and two destroyed Ju88’s the following day. On
August 18th Tuck attacked a group of Ju88’s over Kent where he shot one
down and damaged another. During the exchange his Spitfire was hit by
return fire and he baled out just east of Tunbridge Wells where he was
slightly injured from the landing
Tuck was again
involved in another incident on August 25th when his Spitfire was badly
damaged during combat with a Do17, which he destroyed, 15 miles off the
coast. The aircraft had a dead engine but he glided it back to make a
forced landing
On September 11th,
during the height of the Battle of Britain, Tuck was posted to command 257
Squadron based at Debden. Leading the Hurricanes into combat on the 15th
he shot down a Bf110 and a probable Bf109. On September 23rd he claimed a
Bf109, October 4th a Ju88, October 12th a Bf109, October 25th a Bf109 and
two more damaged. His last two victories of the Battle were on October
28th where he claimed two “probable” damaged Bf109’s
He received a Bar to
his DFC on October 25th
During December he
shot down a Do17 on the 12th, a Bf109 on the 19th and a Do17 on the 29th.
In January 1941 Tuck was awarded the DSO and continued his “scores” in
March with a Do17 on the 2nd and another on the 19th. On April 9th, during
the night, he shot down a Ju88 and claimed another on April 27th after he
had received a second Bar to his DFC on the 11th. Two more victories
followed during night operations on May 11th when he shot down a Ju88 and
probably another
Tuck was involved in
a dogfight with Bf109’s, on June 21st, where he claimed two and damaged
another before he himself was shot down into the Channel. After spending
nearly two hours adrift in a dinghy, he was picked up by a barge and taken
to Gravesend, Kent.
In July, 1941, he
was appointed Wing Leader at Duxford and claimed two victories over
Bf109’s, on the 7th and 8th with another Bf109 probably damaged
After a brief trip
to America, with several other RAF Fighter Command pilots, he returned to
a posting at Biggin Hill as Wing Leader. It was during this posting that
saw Tuck’s last aerial combat of the war. On January 28th, 1942, while on
a low-level mission over northern France, his Spitfire was hit by enemy
flak near Boulogne and he was forced to crash land
He was captured by
German troops and spent the next three years in several POW (prisoner of
war) camps until he made a successful escape on February 1st 1945. After
spending some time fighting alongside the advancing Russian troops as an
infantry officer he found his way to the British Embassy in Moscow. He
eventually boarded a ship from Russia to Southampton, England
With the war now
over, he received his final decoration, a DFC (US Air Force) on June 14th
1946, before he finally retired from the RAF and active service on May
13th 1949 as a Wing Commander
Robert Stanford Tuck
died on May 5th 1987 at the age of 70