The Royal Air Force Hero And The Luftwaffe General

Britain fought for her life. Hitler’s armies prepared For an invasion of England. Savage air battles took place Over the skies of Albion. Then a miracle happened: In the summer and autumn of 1940 The Royal Air Force defeated The numerically superior Luftwaffe. This was a turning point in the war. Lacking adequate air support, The Fuehrer could not carry out His invasion plans. Deeply touched by the heroism Of the pilots, Winston Churchill said: “Never in the field of human conflict Was so much owed by so many To so few”. Only three thousand young aviators Defended the skies of England; Among them scores of Jewish pilots. The British ace pilot Robert Stanford Tuck Was one of the outstanding Jewish heroes Of World War II. He was born in 1917 And grew up in the Greater London district Of Catford. In 1935 the 18-year-old Robert Joined the RAF. During the war He distinguished himself in the skies Of Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain. A Flight Lieutenant and Wing Commander With 92 and 257 Squadrons, Tuck became One of the top ace aviators of the RAF, Credited with 29 confirmed victories Of downed enemy airplanes. Flying a Spitfire, He had first engaged in aerial combat during The Battle of France and claimed His first plane kills over Dunkirk. In September 1940, As the Battle of Britain Gathered momentum, Tuck was promoted To lead the 257 Squadron Of Hawker Hurricanes. He had an exceedingly eventful Combat experience; was shot down Four times, collided twice, crash landed, Got dunked in the English Channel And was wounded twice. On an August day of 1940 Tuck was on patrol in his Spitfire And got into a dogfight With a Junker 88 over Kent. His plane was hit by enemy fire. He managed to bail out While the aircraft crashed On a nearby farmland. Tuck found himself descending with his parachute towards Plovers In Horsmonden. He reached ground On the estate of Lord Cornwallis. The Lord was curious to see The unexpected visitor. He gave a warm welcome To the vertically arrived guest From the sky and then invited him For a cup of tea. One day in the winter of 1942 Tuck flew over northern France Outside Boulogne when his airplane Was hit by enemy flak. He force landed and was captured By the same German units That he strafed just a short time earlier. The Nazis knew very well That Tuck was an ace pilot of the RAF. General Adolf Galland himself came To interrogate him. One of the top pilots of Hitler, The general was a war criminal. He developed carpet-bombing tactics, Which he tested during the Spanish Civil War. He flew with the Condor Legion Of the Luftwaffe and participated in the terror bombing of Guernica. By the way, the 1937 horrors of that Fascist atrocity moved Picasso to paint one of the grand cultural icons of the 20th century, titled “Guernica”. Now dissatisfied with the performance Of his air force in the Battle of Britain, Goering promoted Galland to the rank Of Inspector General of the Luftwaffe. When Tuck fell into Nazi hands, Galland was curious to meet him. The Luftwaffe general Treated the British ace pilot with respect And even provided him with a slap-up meal. Tuck became a prisoner of war But in February 1945 He succeeded to escape. Walking eastwards he reached The Soviet Red Army lines. The Russians allowed him to travel To Moscow where he showed up At the British Embassy. He returned to England via Odessa. After the war, it was Tuck’s turn To interrogate Galland. Then a curious thing happened: The former German Nazi And the British Jew Became close friends. In celebrating the metamorphoses Of a new era wherein former enemies Turn into allies, Galland made Tuck An honorary member Of his old German flying squadron. Tuck and Galland struck a lasting friendship And instead of shooting at each other They went together for game hunting. Then the year of 1969 arrived And they both accepted the role Of serving as technical advisors For the film of the Battle of Britain. The war became a movie. Robert Stanford Tuck died in May 1987. A few days after his death an obituary In The Los Angeles Times said that Many consider Tuck “as the greatest Spitfire pilot of all times”. The article paid homage to the courage Of the ace pilot who went to combat Facing death in the eyes with the bravura Of a guarded levity of the heart Combining it with excellent technical aptitude And sterling flying skills. In 1940 the King personally awarded Tuck With the Distinguished Flying Cross, Stressing the aviator’s initiative And personal example over Dunkirk. During the war Tuck was also decorated With the medal of the Distinguished Service Order. The life of Robert Stanford Tuck affords intriguing Insights into the strange peculiarities of wars And the irrational nature of human conflicts. It poses an array of inquisitive questions regarding the historical context and futility of organized violence, the unnecessary sufferings and avoidable horrors that we humans inflict upon Each other. It also reveals some bizarre ironies Of the Holocaust. After all, a friendship Between a Nazi Luftwaffe general And a Jewish ace pilot of the RAF Stands out as a very odd alliance. Yet human history offers Countless bizarre stories.