A Community to be Relied Upon

In today's society it would probably be the National Lottery that we would look to, should we need to raise large sums of money for the public good, but this of course has not always been the case.

During the Second World War the costs of providing and supplying an Army, Navy and Air Force to maintain the war effort and defend our shores were phenomenal and extra revenue had to come from somewhere, but where?

The answer was savings, where the average person on the street invested their hard earned money in government sponsored Savings Bonds, Savings Stamps, Savings Certificates etc, usually with a promise of greater returns after the war when victory was assured. Persuading people to part with their hard earned cash, however, took a little effort and so the government and Local Savings Campaign Committees used a constant barrage of advertisements and posters appealing to the public's patriotic instincts.

Each year they would have a particularly hard push when whole communities were encouraged to compete against their neighbours to find who could raise the most money. These National Savings Campaigns were usually for a one week duration and went under titles such as 'War Weapons Week', 'Warship Week', 'Wings for Victory' or 'Salute the Soldier'.

Marple could always be relied upon to do its bit. In 1941 the challenge for Marple was:

"£40,000 wanted for Minesweeper - Sweep the Seas with your savings - back up the Navy!!"

The £40,000 would cover the cost of the Minesweeper's hull but very quickly the Chairman of the Marple Savings Campaign Committee began claiming that they would be very surprised if that amount wasn't exceeded and that the £60,000 required to completely equip the vessel could, and would, be achieved.

In fact, with the help of local firms the target was passed on the very first day, and in addition a further £15,000 in pledges was received. It was soon announced that Marple "had been given the privilege of adopting His Majesty's trawler minesweeper, Maple". An Admiralty spokesman told how they were not able to change the name of the ship but that, in the spirit of things, H.M. Maple was nearest they could achieve. The Maple went on to have what was called "a successful war" and came through the conflict happily unscathed.

Our main story, however, takes us forward to 1943 and the 'Wings For Victory' campaign. The target set for Marple was, considering their previous generosity, a massive £80,000. Not surprisingly this target was not only met but smashed when the final total reached £128,360. This phenomenal amount of money (in modern day terms it would convert to a staggering £3.6 million pounds!!!!) meant in terms of the war that Marple had provided the cost of: 1 Lancaster Bomber, 4 Spitfires and 4 Hurricanes.

The Lancaster, No. LL750, was duly commissioned and assigned in late 1943 to 101 Squadron, RAF, based at Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire. Its first 'sortie' took place on 2nd January when it was part of a raid on Berlin, and over the next 4 months it was to fly on a further 24 missions over enemy territory to targets such as Leipzig, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Essen, Rouen and Cologne.

101 Squadron had a unique roll in Bomber Command, that of radio countermeasures using a device called the 'Airborne Cigar' or 'ABC'. This involved carrying extra radio equipment and a crew member (in Marple's case this was Sgt. Smith) who was fluent in German, his job was to tune into enemy air to ground communications and jam them using a powerful transmitter. To make up for the extra weight of the specialist equipment, the planes carried less bombs than a Lancaster's normal armament of 16,000 lbs.

On 27th April 1944 the crew were briefed on that evenings raid. They were to be part of a mission to drop incendiary bombs onto the Tank components factory at Friedrichshafen, a town on the shores of Lake Constance near the borders with Austria and Switzerland. Just prior to take off, for what reason we do not know, one of LL750's regular crew was withdrawn and a Canadian Pilot Officer named Oscar Albrecht put aboard to replace him, this was to be a fateful event for both men. At 21.40 hours prompt Marple's Lancaster left the ground and from that moment all contact was lost and the aircraft was never to be seen again!

What exactly happened to LL750 we will probably never know, 405 Squadron who were also involved in the raid on Friedrichshafen that night, told on their return of "considerable fighter activity" in the area. We can only speculate, but a few days earlier on the 24th a raid, in which LL750 had taken part, was launched on Munich and the German air defenses caught by surprise when the British bombers approached over neutral Swiss air space, maybe the raid of the 27th used similar tactics only this time found the fighters of the Luftwaffe waiting.

are buried side by side in the military cemetery at Vevey in Switzerland. This cemetery was used exclusively for escaped prisoners of war and airmen who crashed either in or near Switzerland.

The remaining crew, Flying Officer H.S. Prowse and Flight Sergeant R. K. Bridges managed to escape and find their way back to England, both survived the war. The crew member who was changed at the eleventh hour, Sgt. F.G. Walter, was not to ride his fortune for long and only a week later on 4th May he was killed whilst on a raid over Reims, France aged just 20 years.

Following the war when investigation into the effectiveness of Allied bombing raids were being carried out, the German authorities claimed that the raid on Friedrichshafen on 27th April was the most damaging raid on tank production of the entire war.

A Lancaster similar to Marple's LL750

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