Tuck, who had flown more than 1,000 hours in Spitfires, took his first flight in a Hurricane early the next morning. “My first impression wasn’t very good,” he recalled. “After the Spit, it [the Hurricane] was like a flying brick–a great, lumbering farmyard stallion compared with a dainty and gentle thoroughbred….It nearly broke my heart, because things seemed tough enough without having to take on 109s in a heavy great kite like this.”

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The new squadron commander soon realized, however, that the Hurricane had its virtues: “It was a remarkably good gun platform; very steady when you opened fire….It was very easy to fly; had no vices, and would take a great deal of punishment and bring you back home….
So it was a very fine aircraft for fighter vs. bomber work.”

Tuck intensively drilled 257 Squadron’s pilots for three days, from September 12 to 14, trying to bring the squadron to battle readiness. He first taught them to fly in loose pairs. Then he sent up pairs of Hurricanes on mock patrols, diving on them from out of the sun. He had the squadron engage in mock dogfights. In the evenings, using German aircraft models, Tuck lectured his pilots about the blind spots on German planes and demonstrated attacks.

Tuck thought that it would take him a week to 10 days to get 257 Squadron ready for combat. By the second day, though, due to his leadership, he found the pilots “clicking into position quickly, keeping better lookout and–best of all–generally displaying a bit of dash and initiative in the mock dogfights.” By September 14, Tuck could inform 11th Group headquarters that 257 would be ready for action in three or four more days.

But the Battle of Britain was reaching its climax, and Fighter Command needed every squadron it had–without delay. The early dawn of September 15, 1940, found Tuck leading 257 Squadron from Martlesham to the RAF station at Debden, north of London. There they joined two other Hurricane squadrons, Nos. 17 and 73, in a wing under Tuck’s command.

The wing flew three patrols that morning without sighting a single German plane. Then, early in the afternoon, 257, 17 and 73 squadrons were scrambled from Debden to intercept bombers approaching London. Tuck soon sighted the raiding force above–50 Heinkel He-111 and Ju-88 bombers plus two squadrons of Me-109 and Me-110 fighters. With no time to gain altitude or to get the sun behind them, Tuck’s fighters had no choice but to attack the huge formation from below, even though they were vulnerable to attack from above by the escorting Messerschmitts.

Tuck did not hesitate. He led 257 Squadron in a climb toward the bombers, followed by 17 and 73 squadron’s Hurricanes. Tuck and seven other Hurricanes pulled away from the others, not waiting for the stragglers. Escorting Me-109s dived through the close-packed bomber formation and went after the Hurricanes, firing away. Tuck’s flight ignored the attacking Me-109s, however, not even firing back at them as they flashed by. They were saving their ammunition for the bombers. Tuck lined up a Ju-88 in his sights, but had to break off as an Me-109 fired at him. Evading the fighter, he then saw a pack of Me-110 fighters turning on the rest of his wing, which was closing on the bombers. Tuck picked out one Me-110 and shot it down, forcing the rest to break formation.

Tuck swung back toward the bombers and attacked an He-111 that had broken away from the other bombers. Before he could fire, an Me-109 dived on him. Tuck sent his wingman after the 109 and attacked another that followed the first, damaging it with a burst from his machine guns.

A bar was added to Tuck’s DFC on October 25, 1940, which gave him the equivalent of a second DFC. He was surprised by the honor, saying, “I’ve just been bloody lucky, that’s all.”

Tuck’s daring, luck and willingness to fight the Germans at any odds made him famous in the RAF. “In the face of constant death,” the London Times wrote, “he preserved a lightness of heart which was not simply bravura, but was allied to precise and ruthlessly applied technical skill.”

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