Fly for Your Life

Excellent story about British WWII Ace Robert Stanford Tuck's life from a young teenager through the end of WWII. While well known in the UK, he is less known here in the States. The story covers his time at sea as a young man, flight training and the difficulties he had, his exploits during the Battle of Britain, getting shot down, life as a POW, his escape to the Russians, and finally his post war life. Lots of good air combat descriptions as well as some of his thoughts on other 'Ace' pilots both friendly and enemy. I found it interesting that he was involved early on with the events leading up to the famous "Great Escape". All in all a very enjoyable read for any WWI aviation enthusiast. Highly Recommend.

This book gives fierce competition to Pierre Clostermann's "The Big Show" as the greatest fighter pilot biography ever written. It's evocative, emotional, conclusive. Larry Forrester did a masterful job.

There are lots of books out there about the Battle of Britain, and some of them very good indeed. The two best I know of aren't really about the Battle per se, but are biographies of two of the fighter leaders of that battle. "Reach for the Sky", by Paul Brickhill (who also wrote "The Great Escape"), tells the story of Douglas Bader, who lost both legs in an auto accident in the `30s, but went on to become one of Britain's top fighter pilots. Not just an outstanding pilot and superb shot, he was instrumental in sweeping aside outmoded tactics and teaching a crop of warriors how to fight and survive in the air. This is the second book. It tells the story of Robert Tuck, who also joined the RAF in the `30s, managed to survive while testing and pushing the envelope every time he went up, and quickly got bumped up to Wing Commander during the Battle. Like Bader, he was not only an instinctive pilot and marksman, he was a natural leader of men. He took over the "Burma Squadron", a down-on-their-luck, ineffective, demotivated Hurricane Squadron, and in only weeks, transformed into a crack front-line fighter unit. Also like Bader, he innovated new tactics that helped keep his crews alive, and was tireless in pushing his ideas up the chain of command. With an official score of 29 kills, he was shot down flying "rhubarbs" over France in Jan 1942, and spent the rest of the war as a POW. I personally find Bader's story a tad more riveting than Tuck's, but only by a bit. Both are outstanding books, and must-reads for Battle of Britain fans. Buy one!

Fly For Your Life is truly one of the best WWII fighter books I have ever read. Bob Tuck was really one of 'the few'. I have read other books by Canadian pilots who portrayed him as a bit of a jerk so I felt that I should give him the benefit of the doubt and read his biography. In a nutshell, I couldn't put the book down. His Battle of Britain exploits were amazing but what really enthralled me were his combat exploits after the Battle of Britain. His description of 'Rubarbs' and his fantastic luck were riveting. The only item lacking in this book in my humble opion is a short description of his post war activities but that would be all. Overall a fine collection to anyone's Second World War library.

This book is the best fighter pilot biography I have read. Bob Stanford Tuck was a fascinating character,he seems to have had no equal when it came to flying. The action sequences in the book are riveting and the prose is of an extremely high quality. Although the subject matter is serious ,some of the comments and stories are incredibly funny. For anyone who really wants to know what flying in WW2 was like, this book is a must.