United States of America
Jr Frank Glasgow Tinker
United States of America
Jr Frank Glasgow Tinker
14 July 1909 - 13 June 1939
Tinker was born on 14 July 1909 in Kaplan, Louisiana.
In his early years his family moved to DeWitt, Arkansas.
He enlisted in the Navy in 1926 and was appointed to the US Naval Academy in 1929.
He graduated with the class of 1933, earning a B.S. degree in business.
Because of the Great Depression, he could not be commissioned right away and Tinker along with many of his classmates enlisted in the Army Air Corps as flying cadets and was assigned to Randolph Field, Texas for flight training.
On 29 May 1934, he was finally commissioned to a Navy Ensign.
He then received flight training at Pensacola, Florida.
With the flight training behind him, Tinker drew an assignment to the cruiser USS San Francisco to fly reconnaissance floatplanes.
His naval career ended when he got into several brawls. The Navy dissolved his commission and he was out on the street. Tinker then signed up as a Third Mate on a Standard Oil Tanker working in the Gulf of Mexico.
He volunteered for service in the Spanish Civil War on the Republican side and used the nom de guerre Francisco Gomez Tejo.
In the beginning of February 1937, Andrés García La Calle was put in command of the first Spanish Chato (Polikarpov I-15) Squadron.
Initially it consisted of the following pilots: La Calle, Castañeda, Ben Leider, José Calderón, Jim Allison, Tinker, Harold Dahl, Pepito ’Chang’ Sellés, Bercial, Ortiz, Gil and Riverola.
On 7 February, the squadron moved to the old Hispano Suiza aerodrome in Guadalajara. They began operations at El Jarama, where their activities were outstanding, but their losses heavy.
On 14 March, Tinker took off in an I-15 (CA-056) from Guadalajara. During the two-hour mission he claimed one CR.32 before landing at Valencia.
On 20 March 1937, La Calle’s squadron took part in the last aerial combat during the battle of Guadaljara. They took off in four patrols, led by Andrés García La Calle, Harold Dahl, Tinker and the Guatemalan pilot Miguel Garcia Granados, and were soon involved with three bombers and twenty Fiats. Granados patrol was jumped by the Fiats, which had been patrolling in a higher altitude, and in the first hail of bullets Granados was shot down by Brunetto di Montegnacco of the 26a Squadriglia. Tinker gained his second victory, and from the two squadrons of fighters taking part five Fiats were destroyed.
Granados survived the crash but was wounded and captured.
Granados (1896-1968) was a former Colonel in the Guatemalan Air Force who had done a famous goodwill flight in 1929 from Washington DC to Guatemala. He had also served with the Paraguayan Air Force in the Gran Chaco War.
While patrolling the Teruel front on 17 April he claimed a He51 from the Condor Legion.
On 3 May, he was transferred to the 1. Escuadrilla de Moscas led by the Russian Ivan Lakeev and equipped with Polikarpov I-16s.
He claimed a CR.32 while flying bomber escort over Segovia on 2 June.
On 16 June he claimed another CR.32 over the Huesca area.
On 13 July Tinker became the first American to destroy a Bf109 when he claimed one in the Madrid area.
His second Bf109 was claimed on 17 July during an escort mission in the Madrid area.
On 18 July he claimed his last victory when he claimed a CR.32 while escorting a squadron of R-5 bombers in the Madrid area.
He flew his last missions on 29 July.
Between 7 January and 29 July, he flew a total of 191 hours and 20 minutes.
Tinker ended the Spanish Civil War with 3 biplane victories and a total of 8.
When he returned to the US he wrote a book about his time in Spain - Some Still Live, An Airman’s Adventures in the Spanish War (Lovat Dickson 1938) and other articles for various magazines and newspapers.
Depressed about leaving Spain (he wanted to go back and fight once again for the Republic), his life slowly went down hill.
On 5 June 1939, Tinker checked into the Hotel Ben McGhee in Little Rock, Arkansas.
On 13 June in a drunken haze, he shot himself. A letter of acceptance from the Chinese Air Force sent by Claire Chennault was found next to his body.
Tinker was buried in DeWitt.
Claims:
| Kill no. | Date | Time | Number | Type | Result | Plane type | Serial no. | Locality | Unit |
| 1937 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14/03/37 | 1 | CR.32 | Destroyed | I-15 | CA-056 | Guadalajara area | La Calle Escuadrilla | |
| 2 | 20/03/37 | 1 | CR.32 | Destroyed | I-15 | CA-056 | Guadalajara area | La Calle Escuadrilla | |
| 3 | 17/04/37 | 1 | He51 | Destroyed | I-15 | CA-058 | Teruel area | La Calle Escuadrilla | |
| 4 | 02/06/37 | 1 | CR.32 | Destroyed | I-16 | CM-070 | Segovia | Lakeev Escuadrilla | |
| 5 | 16/06/37 | 1 | CR.32 | Destroyed | I-16 | CM-023 | Huesca area | Lakeev Escuadrilla | |
| 6 | 13/07/37 | 1 | Bf109 | Destroyed | I-16 | CM-023 | Madrid area | Lakeev Escuadrilla | |
| 7 | 17/07/37 | 1 | Bf109 | Destroyed | I-16 | CM-023 | Madrid area | Lakeev Escuadrilla | |
| 8 | 18/07/37 | 1 | CR.32 | Destroyed | I-16 | CM-023 | Madrid area | Lakeev Escuadrilla |
Biplane victories: 3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 8 destroyed.
Sources:
Air War over Spain - Jesus Salas Larrazabal, 1974 Ian Allan Ltd, Shepperton, Surrey, ISBN 0-7110-0521-4
Flyers of Fortune
Några leva än - F. G. Tinker, 1939 T. V. Scheutz Bokförlag AB, Stockholm
Polikarpov Fighters in action Pt. 1 - Hans-Heiri Stapfer, 1995 Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, ISBN 0-89747-343-4
Stars & Bars - Frank Olynyk, 1995 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-17-5
Additional information kindly provided by Simon Buckley and Mikhail Zhirokhov.
