Robert R. Stanford-Tuck:

            Robert R. Stanford-Tuck, with 30 victories one of the top RAF aces of the Second World War, joined the RAF in 1935 at age 19 on a short service commission, following two years at sea as a cadet. 

            Tuck did not at first take to flying, and was nearly “bowler-hatted” for not soloing until he had 14 hours.  From there on it was “tea and biscuits” as they say.  After training on the Avro Tutor, Hawker Hart, Hawker Fury and the Bristol Bulldog, Tuck passed out of No. 3 Flying Training School at Grantham with the highest rating available -  "exceptional."

            Posted to 65 Squadron at Hornchurch in July 1936, Tuck flew Demons until they were replaced at the end of the year with Gloster Gauntlets, followed in late 1937 by Gladiators. During this period, Tuck was involved in a mid-air collision during formation aerobatics training, and again came close to being kicked out of the service, but was found not to have been at fault in the accident.  Shortly thereafter, 65 Squadron re-equipped as the second squadron to use the Spitfire I shortly after the Munich Crisis.

            By the outbreak of war in September 1939, Tuck had several hundred hours on Spitfires.  Confined to the U.K. during the period of the “Phoney War,” Tuck was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and transferred to 92 Squadron in the Spring of 1940 to take over Red Flight lead.  He first got a taste of the war on May 16, when he and his two wingmen were given top secret orders to fly to Hendon, where they were assigned as fighter escort to an un-armed twin-engined Flamingo.  This turned out to be Winston Churchill’s flight to France following his acceptance as Prime Minister, to try and prevail on Paul Reynaud to hold out in the face of the German blitzkrieg that had been unleashed six days earlier.  They returned, unsuccessful, the next day and Tuck’s flight returned to their squadron.

            With the British Expeditionary Force forced to retreat to Dunkirk for evacuation by the Royal Navy, Tuck’s first aerial combat took place over Dunkirk on 23 May 1940. On this first mission, he shot down a Bf-109E.  On a second mission that afternoon, he shot down two Bf-110s, with a third 110 shot down on the final mission of the day.  Having chased that last opponent inland, Tuck had become separated from his flight and ended up in combat without ammo with two Bf-109s which he outflew on a daring low-level escape across the Channel back to England.

            92 Squadron was in 11 Group, and over the summer Tuck took part in numerous combats over the Channel.  His combat success continued: a shared Do17 on July 8^th; a damaged Ju88 on July 25^th; a shared Ju88 on August 13^th and two destroyed Ju88’s on the 14^th. On August 18^th, Tuck attacked a group of Ju88’s over Kent, shooting down one and damaging another. During the fight, his Spitfire was hit by return fire and he baled out just east of Tunbridge Wells where he was slightly injured from the landing.  He was involved in another incident on August 25^th, 15 miles off the coast over the Channel; his Spitfire was badly damaged while attacking and destroying a Do17, which he destroyed.  With a dead engine and the alternative of a likely-fatal dunking in the Channel, Tuck glided back to the coast to make a forced landing on the Downs. 

            On September 11th, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Tuck was promoted to Squadron Leader and posted to command 257 Squadron based at Debden. 257 had been through heavy combat and was in a sorry state on Tuck’s arrival, having lost their C.O. in combat.  He checked out in a Hurricane the next day and put the pilots through some intensive flying during the three days “down time” they were given.  On September 15, 1940, 257 returned to combat.  Leading the squadron into combat over London, Tuck shot down a Bf-110 and a probable Bf109. (In 1978, the Aircraft Recovery Group excavated the remains of a Bf-109 22 feet deep in the marshes, still containing the remains of the pilot, Lt. Werner Knittle; after considerable research, it was determined this was the Bf-109 Tuck had claimed on September 15, bringing his official wartime score to 30.)

            On September 23^rd Tuck claimed another Bf-109, a Ju88 on October 4^th a Bf109 on October 12^th and a Bf-109 and two damaged on October 25^th. His final victories in the Battle of Britain were on October 28^th, he claimed two “probable” Bf109’s.

            Tuck remained with 257 Squadron until May, 1942, when he was promoted to Wing Commander and given command of the Duxford Wing.  That October he was taken off operations after more than a year of steady combat and sent to the United States to tour American flight training schools and lecture on air combat.  He also flew all of the American fighters as part of an Air Ministry assessment program. 

            Tuck returned at the end of November 1941 and was given command of the Biggin Hill Wing, the premiere organization in Fighter Command, a unit with four Spitfire Squadrons.  On January 27, 1942, he was shot down by ground fire over Northern France while on a “Rhubarb” and taken prisoner by the Germans.

            In January 1945, as the prisoners in Stalag Luft III were marched west in the face of the advancing Red Army, Tuck and three comrades escaped in a snow storm and hid in the woods, then made their way across the lines into Poland.  They nearly starved before being able to give themselves up to Soviet infantry, who nearly shot them at first.  

            Tuck was back in England in April 1945, and began flying Vampires and Meteors at Tangmere and West Raynham.  In 1946 he was promoted Station Commander at Coltishall, then moved on to  Singapore with the outbreak of the Malayan Emergency.  He retired from the R.A.F. in 1949.

            In 1989, I had the privilege of meeting Wing Commander Tuck when he was brought to the United States by Virginia Bader, niece of Douglas Bader and at the time a well-known gallery owner here in Los Angeles, promoting aviation art.  Tuck came with Johnny Johnson, who turned out to be as condescending to “colonials” as I had been told he was by a couple of old RCAF pilots who had served under him.  “Bob” Tuck (as he told everyone to call him) was the polar opposite and a real hit with his American audience; Johnson on the other hand was a good reminder why my ancestors gave those people the boot 230 years ago.

            Hasegawa has released just about every version of the Hurricane ever produced (other than the two-seaters), either in large runs or in limited editions like this Hurricane Mk. I Trop.  I merely used this kit because it was available at the LHS during the estate sale of the possessions of a kit collector who has moved on to the Big Hobby Shop in the Sky, and was priced to sell at $19.95.  It also has the deHavilland prop with the smaller, more pointed spinner, rather than the bulbous Rotol prop, which was what I needed for this project. The kit provides decals for two different tropical Hurricanes and you can see a review I did of this kit earlier in the reviews section of the site.

            I dragged the Aeromaster “Early Hurricane Aces of the British Empire 1939-40, Part III” out of the decal dungeon for this project.

            There are numerous reviews here of building the Hasegawa Hurricane.  For me, these are the two most important points:

            Hasegawa is noted for excellent engineering of their kits, and the Hurricanes are no exception. The one problem of the kit is that when the lower wing assembly was designed, it cut straight across through the underfuselage fabric effect, rather than along a panel line; this means a modeler must putty the area and sand off carefully. I find that the fact there is exhaust staining seen on the lower rear fuselage in nearly every Hurricane photo provides the chance to hide this with weathering at the end of construction.

            Additionally, the kit is designed to have the canopy closed. When using the Squadron canopy - which is crucial if you want the canopy opened - a modeler needs to build up the area that would be under the canopy aft of the headrest, to get rid of the noticeable ridge. Checking photos in either of the references noted above makes this easy. Beyond this, if a modeler follows the kit instructions for the variant being created, the result will be an excellent model.

COLORS & MARKINGS

Painting:

            The instructions in the Aeromaster sheet stated that this airplane was done in the “B” camouflage scheme, which I freehanded using Xtracrylix “Dark Earth,” “RAF Dark Green.” and “Sky.”  Since the original airplane was only in service a bit more than 8 weeks, I didn’t “ding” it, but did apply exhaust stains.  As said above, applying stains to the lower rear fuselage covers the problem of the seam in the middle of the fabric there.

Decals:

            I particularly liked that this sheet had V6555, Tuck’s first Hurricane that he flew with 257 Squadron, rather than the better-known V6864.  Tuck scored most of his victories during the time he led 257 in the Battle of Britain in this airplane.  The sheet has an extensive and petite stencil section, which I also appreciated.  The decals went on easily though they did need a coat of Solvaset at the end to finally settle down in the engraved panel lines, being Cartograf and a bit thick.

            The landing gear was attached along with the prop.  The Squadron canopy was cut free and then the canopy and windscreen were separated, and attached in the open position.

            It’s a Hasegawa Hurricane - what’s not to like?  The kit is easy to build, and if you score some of the old Aeromaster sheets that are still out there to be found at shows or older hobby shops or on EvilBay, there’s a plethora of markings possibilities.

Review kit courtesy of my wallet.

Tom Cleaver

May 2009