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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=477504" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Royal Air Force Hero and the Luftwaffe General</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Britain fought for her life.<br>Hitler’s armies prepared<br>For an invasion of England.<br>Savage air battles took place <br>Over the skies of Albion.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then a miracle happened: <br>In the summer and autumn of 1940<br>The Royal Air Force defeated<br>The numerically superior Luftwaffe. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">This was a turning point in the war.<br>Lacking adequate air support, <br>The Fuehrer could not carry out<br>His invasion plans.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Deeply touched by the heroism<br>Of the pilots, Winston Churchill said: <br>“Never in the field of human conflict<br>Was so much owed by so many<br>To so few”.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Only three thousand young aviators<br>Defended the skies of England; <br>Among them scores of Jewish pilots.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The British ace pilot Robert Stanford Tuck<br>Was one of the outstanding Jewish heroes<br>Of World War II. He was born in 1917 <br>And grew up in the Greater London district <br>Of Catford. In 1935 the 18-year-old Robert <br>Joined the RAF. During the war<br>He distinguished himself in the skies<br>Of Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">A Flight Lieutenant and Wing Commander <br>With 92 and 257 Squadrons, Tuck became<br>One of the top ace aviators of the RAF, <br>Credited with 29 confirmed victories <br>Of downed enemy airplanes. Flying a Spitfire, <br>He had first engaged in aerial combat during<br>The Battle of France and claimed<br>His first plane kills over Dunkirk.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In September 1940, <br>As the Battle of Britain<br>Gathered momentum, <br>Tuck was promoted<br>To lead the 257 Squadron<br>Of Hawker Hurricanes. <br>He had an exceedingly eventful<br>Combat experience; was shot down <br>Four times, collided twice, crash landed, <br>Got dunked in the English Channel <br>And was wounded twice. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">On an August day of 1940 <br>Tuck was on patrol in his Spitfire<br>And got into a dogfight<br> With a Junker 88 over Kent.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">His plane was hit by enemy fire.<br>He managed to bail out <br>While the aircraft crashed<br>On a nearby farmland.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tuck found himself descending <br>with his parachute towards Plovers<br>In Horsmonden. He reached ground <br>On the estate of Lord Cornwallis.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Lord was curious to see <br>The unexpected visitor.<br>He gave a warm welcome<br>To the vertically arrived guest <br>From the sky and then invited him<br>For a cup of tea.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One day in the winter of 1942 <br>Tuck flew over northern France <br>Outside Boulogne when his airplane<br>Was hit by enemy flak.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He force landed and was captured <br>By the same German units <br>That he strafed just a short time earlier. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Nazis knew very well<br>That Tuck was an ace pilot of the RAF.<br>General Adolf Galland himself came<br>To interrogate him. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">One of the top pilots of Hitler, <br>The general was a war criminal.<br>He developed carpet-bombing tactics, <br>Which he tested during the Spanish Civil War.<br>He flew with the Condor Legion <br>Of the Luftwaffe and participated<br>in the terror bombing of Guernica.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">By the way, the 1937 horrors <br>of that Fascist atrocity moved Picasso<br>to paint one of the grand cultural icons<br>of the 20th century, titled “Guernica”.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now dissatisfied with the performance <br>Of his air force in the Battle of Britain, <br>Goering promoted Galland to the rank<br>Of Inspector General of the Luftwaffe. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Tuck fell into Nazi hands, <br>Galland was curious to meet him.<br>The Luftwaffe general<br>Treated the British ace pilot with respect <br>And even provided him with a slap-up meal. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tuck became a prisoner of war <br>But in February 1945 <br>He succeeded to escape.<br>Walking eastwards he reached <br>The Soviet Red Army lines. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Russians allowed him to travel<br> To Moscow where he showed up <br>At the British Embassy. <br>He returned to England via Odessa. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">After the war, it was Tuck’s turn<br>To interrogate Galland. <br>Then a curious thing happened: <br>The former German Nazi <br>And the British Jew<br>Became close friends. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">In celebrating the metamorphoses <br>Of a new era wherein former enemies<br>Turn into allies, Galland made Tuck <br>An honorary member<br>Of his old German flying squadron. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tuck and Galland struck a lasting friendship <br>And instead of shooting at each other<br>They went together for game hunting. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then the year of 1969 arrived <br>And they both accepted the role <br>Of serving as technical advisors<br> For the film of the Battle of Britain. <br>The war became a movie.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Robert Stanford Tuck died in May 1987.<br>A few days after his death an obituary <br>In The Los Angeles Times said that<br>Many consider Tuck “as the greatest<br>Spitfire pilot of all times”. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">The article paid homage to the courage <br>Of the ace pilot who went to combat <br>Facing death in the eyes with the bravura<br>Of a guarded levity of the heart <br>Combining it with excellent technical aptitude<br>And sterling flying skills.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In 1940 the King personally awarded Tuck <br>With the Distinguished Flying Cross, <br>Stressing the aviator’s initiative<br>And personal example over Dunkirk.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">During the war Tuck was also decorated <br>With the medal of the Distinguished Service Order.<br>The life of Robert Stanford Tuck affords intriguing <br>Insights into the strange peculiarities of wars <br>And the irrational nature of human conflicts. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">It poses an array of inquisitive questions <br>regarding the historical context and futility <br>of organized violence, the unnecessary sufferings <br>and avoidable horrors that we humans inflict upon<br>Each other.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It also reveals some bizarre ironies <br>Of the Holocaust. After all, a friendship <br>Between a Nazi Luftwaffe general<br>And a Jewish ace pilot of the RAF<br>Stands out as a very odd alliance. </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Yet human history offers <br>Countless bizarre stories.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Paul+Hartal">Paul Hartal</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=477504" data-title="The Royal Air Force Hero and the Luftwaffe General de Paul Hartal" data-description="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 s..."></div>
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