Stanford Tuck

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

By: Helen Doe

Narrated by: Graham Mack

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 twenty-nine enemy aircraft destroyed. 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. In January 1944 however, around twenty POWs, including Tuck, were purged to a new camp. Still determined to escape, 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 made many media appearances. His health suffered in later years from the impact of his war service and his imprisonment and he died aged seventy in 1987.

©2023 Helen Doe (P)2024 Tantor

Very tedious beginning

For some reason, the author is obsessed with details of the funerals of RAF trainee pilots pre Battle of Britain. We really don't need to know where pilots killed in accidents unrelated to Tuck were buried, how many cars were in the funeral, and how the twin brother of one pilot got compassionate leave from the Royal Navy to attend the funeral. But all that is there. Once the book gets to the Battle of Britain it gets better. Interesting how the author is sceptical of some of Tuck's claims. The narrator gets into some really irritating voices when quoting other people.

Fills in Gaps, sets record straight

Forrester got some of it right, Doe cleans up what Forrester got wrong making Tuck more of a human and less a super hero. Tuck is still one of my heroes from WWII, however, and now I know the story of how he became a mushroom farmer. I enjoyed the story and the narration, too.