Salford and the Spitfire Fund

Now as stories go it is a very small one, but then again it is about Salford and does also allow me to return to the Spitfire Fund and the Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges.

Cover of the Spitfire Fund book, 1940

In 1940 the Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges had been going for 70 years and was dedicated to helping destitute poor children across the twin cities.

And in the August of that year, the Manchester Guardian reported that “the boys and staff at the boys home in Broughton which is controlled by the Manchester & Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges” collected £4 5s 6d towards the Spitfire Fund.*

The Fund was established in the spring of 1940 and encouraged towns, and businesses along with individuals to donate money to the cost of making a Spitfire.

Spitfire lapel badge, 1940

The cost of making one of these fighters was about £8000 – £12,000 but the target set for donations was £5000 which would pay for the airframe, and once that sum had been achieved the donor could have their name or a caption written in letters four inches high in yellow paint on the fuselage.

It was of course a brilliant piece of propaganda allowing individuals and groups to be part of the war effort and particularly to identify with the pilots fighting in the Battle of Britain.



So each of the stamps carried the message THE BRITISH EMPIRE STANDS FOR WORLD PEACE AND SECURITY DEFEND IT, and on the inside page of the book of stamps under Objects was the message, “The public are invited and urged to co-operating broadcasting that for which the British Empire stands by affixing to the back of all correspondence one of the EMPIRE STAMPS.  

The stamps

Every letter passing through the post should carry this message.

Fifty per cent of the selling price is to be allocated to the Spitfire of Fighting Plane Funds. It is essential that Britain should dominate the air to avoid world disaster.  

We have the splendid men, but they must have the best aircraft and plenty of them.  Please help these two vital objects.”

And the Salford boys did their bit.

Location; Salford

Pictures; Spitfire Stamp Book and lapel badge, 1940 from the collection of David Harrop

*Gifts For Fighter Aircraft, the Manchester Fund, the Manchester Guardian, August 22, 1940

Knowing your onions in 1940 ........ wartime propaganda with 222 Squadron

Now I am looking forward to seeing the original of this photograph which David tells me comes from New York.

It will be a fitting end to the story which began when he lent me the Line Book for 222 (Natal) Squadron.*

Line Books are rare and this one was nearly lost and only survived because it was found in a skip, which made its way on to the market and in the fullness of time David came across and added to his collection of war time memorabilia.

And it is a wonderful find because Line Books were the unofficial record of RAF squadrons put together by the pilots and kept in the mess.

So here are comments on operations that were flown including bitter sweet reflections on what happened in the air along with pictures poems, and telegrams sent by men on leave.

It covers the period just after the Battle of Britain goes on to record the moment the squadron was equipped with jet fighters in 1945, and its brief time as a missile unit before disbandment in the 1960s.

And while the book was started just after the momentous events of summer 1940, many of the men mentioned will have fought in that battle.

But today it is that picture which I am drawn to and the caption which appeared with it.

I am not sure of the date or which newspaper it appeared in but here is a wonderful piece of war time propaganda, which combines the seriousness of war, and a light bit of banter.

And along with that a tiny bit of factual information offering up that “the Natal Fighter Squadron ........ is paid for by the inhabitants of Natal (South Africa).  Among the pilots are many South Africans and many of the ground staff came from Rhodesia.  Enough money was contributed to Keep a full squadron in the air at all times.”

All of which reminds you that in both world wars there was a huge “voluntary element” which was partly because we were cash strapped but also because getting everyone to make a contribution was a winning piece of propaganda.

So along with war bonds there was of course the Spitfire Fund many other drives for the war effort.**

But I shall finish by returning to the picture and the story, which continues “the Natal Fighter Squadron in England have sown their onions behind barbed wire!  And here are some of them at work on the allotment.  

They find it a change from the routine work of “bagging” German planes.

A flight-lieutenant from South Africa has seven Nazi planes to his credit with a probable five more ....... he certainly knows his onions!”

Today it is easy to be cynical at the style of the propaganda and even back then I suspect there will be some who pointed fun at its jokey delivery but this was all in earnest and those men in the picture were doing the real thing.

So I am pleased that the Line Book is now in David’s possession who I know will look after it and will refer to it in his current exhibition on the Battle of Britain in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery.




Pictures; news clipping, of pilots from 222 (Natal) Squadron, date and source unknown from the Lone Book of 222 (Natal) Squadron, courtesy of David Harrop

*The Natal 222 Squadron, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Natal%20222%20Squadron

**The Spitfire Fund, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/remembering-battle-of-britain-part-2.html

Remembering the Battle of Britain ................ part 2 the Spitfire Fund

Book cover

I grew up with the Spitfire Fund although to be strictly accurate by the time I was born the war had been over for four years.

But stories of the Battle of Britain, the “Few” and the Hurricane and Spitfire were still very much part of my childhood.

That said until recently I had never come across the hard evidence for the Fund.

I can remember talking to Frank Cropper who collected for the Fund in Ashton-Under-Lyne and had seen the odd photograph but that was pretty much it.

But today I am looking at a book of 24 Spitfire Stamps which sold for one shilling with half of the proceeds going to  the Fund.

Lapel badge

Now as way of raising money for the war effort it was a clever idea.

It was established in the spring of 1940 and encouraged towns, and businesses along with individuals to donate money to the cost of making a Spitfire.

Now the cost of making one of these fighters was about £8000 – £12,000 but the target set for donations was £5000 which would pay for the airframe, and once that sum had been achieved the donor could have their name or a caption written in letters four inches high in yellow paint on the fuselage.

It was of course a brilliant piece of propaganda allowing individuals and groups to be part of the war effort and particularly to identify with the pilots fighting in the Battle of Britain.

Objects

So each of the stamps carried the message THE BRITISH EMPIRE STANDS FOR WORLD PEACE AND SECURITY DEFEND IT, and on the inside page of the book of stamps under Objects was the message, “The public are invited and urged to co-operating broadcasting that for which the British Empire stands by affixing to the back of all correspondence one of the EMPIRE STAMPS.  

Every letter passing through the post should carry this message.

Fifty per cent of the selling price is to be allocated to the Spitfire of Fighting Plane Funds. It is essential that Britain should dominate the air to avoid world disaster.  

We have the splendid men, but they must have the best aircraft and plenty of them.  Please help these two vital objects.”

Stamps

The book and the tiny lapel badge may seem small stuff when compared to the official documents, the memoirs of the great and good but they are an important piece of the war’s history.

Now I know if I go looking I will find more on the Fund its organisers and the daily grind of walking the streets collecting the money however small but for now that is it.

Although I rather think I might go up and visit the Lancashire County Archives where they have some promising material on the Spitfire Fund including a fascinating photograph of a group photograph of the presentation of £5,000 cheque to the Red Rose Spitfire Fund from the Lancashire Constabulary and Wardens Service, taken at Northwood, Old Trafford, on June 17 1943.**

But that is for another time.

Pictures; Spitfire Stamp Book and lapel badge, 1940 from the collection of David Harrop

*Brian Jackson, Lancashire County Archivist, reproduced from Fylde Spitfire Memorial Fund, https://fyldebbmfund.wordpress.com/view-fylde-district-spitfire-memorial-fund-documents/lytham-st-annes-its-mark-vb-spitfire-w3644/

** Spitfire Fund M29/01/14] COVERING THE PERIOD 1940-43 reference number MBLS/7/11 & PLA LC31/103-05 & 22, Lancashire County Records, http://archivecat.lancashire.gov.uk/calmview/Overview.aspx