Introduction: (Robert Stanford-Tuck – Feature Film)

Beermat, that’s beautiful stuff. Thank you very much. That Spitfire manual is essentially a goldmine to me. I’ve previously seen the Spitfire spare parts site. Stumbled across it once to see how a Spit fuel guage is marked. Some interesting stuff in there.

Happy to help!

Does anybody else have recommendations, especially around literature? I was reading the Battle of Britain part of Leo McKinstry’s ‘Spitfire, Portrait of a Legend’ last night, and kept thinking ‘I hope Greg NewGuy’s read this’..

Happy to help!

Does anybody else have recommendations, especially around literature? I was reading the Battle of Britain part of Leo McKinstry’s ‘Spitfire, Portrait of a Legend’ last night, and kept thinking ‘I hope Greg NewGuy’s read this’..

No, I haven’t read that book. I know there are quite a few in that vein and in fact I have a couple ordered from Ebay which Nick Stein recommended. One is Brian Kingcome’s book, and the other is “First Light” by Goeffrey Wellum. Looking forward to both. Two other books Nick suggested are “Arise to Conquer” and “Ten Fighter Boys”.

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Here’s another question. Is it conceivable fighter pilots on either side ever smoked a cigarette whilst in the cockpit?

First Light – top book, man. Currently being adapted by the BBC, I believe.

I think Galland actually had an ashtray installed in the cockpit of his Bf109. A few others probably did, too.

Here’s another question. Is it conceivable fighter pilots on either side ever smoked a cigarette whilst in the cockpit?

Difficult to say absolute NO. On operations I would never the less say absoulute NO. Just think about oxygen in a mask and fire from a fag stub. Will deffinately mess up your hair do:eek:
On low level transit flights, maybe, but I doubt it.

All pictures of cigar equipped Galland, for example, are ground shots and probably staged.

Stanford-Tuck

This is in my Stanford-Tuck archive.

I see that Mr Attard is a film screenwriter, too!

I believe he lives in the South of France and think he has changed his name to Tony Stanford-Tuck.

I also have some correspondence from RST about this matter.

See here, where Mr Attard (aka Stanford-Tuck) also seems to be an actor:

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/introcs/data/aka-names.list

As to RST’s shoot-down of a couple of ‘109s in 1941 before being shot down into the North Sea himself, it is an account that needs to be viewed with a certain amount of circumspection.

Hadn’t heard about that. From his IMDB page it seems he hasn’t done much in a few years. I was told that a script about Tuck was actually written years ago. Supposedly a copy exists, but its owner has been unable to locate it. I wonder if this guy wrote it.

In any case, if he really was Tuck’s son I’d think he would have gone for paternity testing, as that has been available for some time. Of course, genetic material would also have to be requested from Tuck’s family. That kind of thing could get ugly fast, especially since Tuck disavowed any association with this man whatsoever.

Guess we’ll never know. Bet he pops out of the woodwork if he gets wind of my project though.

SOMEWHERE I have an account of an RAF fighter pilot smoking, cockpit open, on the way home from a Rhubarb. I’ll have to dig it out. I think it was recounted because it was so unusual.

However, there are other incongruous things that did take place in the cockpit. ‘Stapme’ Stapleton was known to sing Cole Porter’s ‘Night and Day’ at the top of his voice over the radio, while at least one well known Spitfire pilot would often shave during the climb to interception. Some pilots fought in their pyjamas, and others liked to listen to the latest hits on the radio (until the sets were changed to only allow pre-set frequencies).

Regarding books – I would personally recommend anything by Dilip Sarkar. Actually, thinking about it, he posts on this forum – best talk to him direct. His posts – http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/search.php?searchid=2563203

Some of you may not have seen this, so I thought I’d post it here. My wife is prone to surprising me now and then throughout this endeavor of mine, and she found the following pleasant (as pleasant as can be expected, anyway) article about the passing of Tony Bartley.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tony-bartley-729006.html

Hadn’t heard about that. From his IMDB page it seems he hasn’t done much in a few years. I was told that a script about Tuck was actually written years ago. Supposedly a copy exists, but its owner has been unable to locate it. I wonder if this guy wrote it.

In any case, if he really was Tuck’s son I’d think he would have gone for paternity testing, as that has been available for some time. Of course, genetic material would also have to be requested from Tuck’s family. That kind of thing could get ugly fast, especially since Tuck disavowed any association with this man whatsoever.

Guess we’ll never know. Bet he pops out of the woodwork if he gets wind of my project though.

I suspect he will certainly pop up if your project moves forward.

Whilst I cannot really share the private correspondence from RST to me when the latter mentioned the matter, lets just say he was incandescent about it.

Tony Attard last popped up a few years ago, when he became very animated over the Bader TV programme although I did not answer his increasingly demanding incoming barrage of correspondence. The insight from RST many years ago made me rather inclined to place in the “ignore” pile.

Found it! It was Pete Brothers, Tuck’s right-hand man on 257 squadron – he would habitually open the canopy and smoke a cigarette after combat. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3884594/Air-Commodore-Pete-Brothers.html

Legend has it that Douglas Bader smoked a pipe in the cockpit as well..

In FFYL, Forrester writes about air gunnery competitions. Can anyone tell me about what was involved in those? The book gives no indication on how these events were staged, what the targets were, how the events were observed, and so forth.

RST Logbook facsimile for sale.

If anyone’s interested I’ve been looking through Ian Allan/Midland Counties 2nd hand catalogue that dropped through my letterbox today.

Included is a facsimile copy of RST’s logbook – a limited edition published by After The Battle c.2000 – for £30.

I have no connection with this – it’s just for info.

Roger Smith.

Almost certainly air-to-air gunnery competitions would involve firing at air-towed drogues. I believe different competitors would have different coloured paint on their ammo – the judges would then count holes rimmed in different colours to award scores. Being a drogue-towing pilot was a dangerous job..

As I’ve mentioned before, my wife surprises me now and then. Turns out she’s been waiting several weeks for the latest example to arrive — a copy of RRST’s logbook. What a woman! (Sorry RPSmith, she beat me to it).

Here is a link that may hep you http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/rstuckdt_1.htm

As I’ve mentioned before, my wife surprises me now and then. Turns out she’s been waiting several weeks for the latest example to arrive — a copy of RRST’s logbook. What a woman! (Sorry RPSmith, she beat me to it).

Hello Greg

I got an email from you saying you are doing a screen play but you say in the thread its a feature film ?
Have you done any film projects before would be interested to see them ?

Regards

Graham

Thank you Graham. I actually saw that wonderful site early last year. I think I may have even tried to email its proprietor with no success. There’s some nice information about markings and paint schemes, which could come in handy as one reference for production. I’m glad to have the link again though, since I hadn’t saved it.

Regarding the question in your next post, sorry to say I prefer to stay anonymous at the moment for a variety of reasons. But yes, the screenplay is for a feature film which is at this point in the earliest stages of planning and by no means a certainty. First order of business is a good script. If that happens, I have a shot at getting “Tuck’s Luck” made. If this ever moves into pre-production, you’ll know more about me. I’m hoping to be in the UK for the process anyway. IF it goes forward, I’m inclined to see if anyone in this group would want to pick a centrally located pub, meet, and accept a few pints as a thank-you. Would be fun, I should think.

Living in the US adds to my dilemma. Were I in the UK, I’d most likely be spending time in museums and/or talking to RAF pilots and crew as part of my research.

To get a feel for the era, I’d suggest reading some of the newspapers and magazines from the period. But as detailed in other threads and posts, don’t rely on the popular press for technical details!

Another question — when German bombers were present, did London’s AAA batteries cease fire when RAF fighters arrived? Seems like they would, but in the heat of battle I imagine anything’s possible.