Sergeant 1869070, 37 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 24/02/1944. Age 19.

 

Born in Felixstowe in 1924, only child of Horace Sidney Topple and Dorothy Mary Topple of Felixstowe.

 

Following a large number of bombing operations in Northern Europe, in November 1940, 37 Squadron moved to the Middle East to support allied operations in that region for the remainder of the war.

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Sergeant Topple was air gunner on Wellington LN 641 of 37 Squadron RAF which took off from Tortorella Landing Ground at 1821 hours on 24 February 1944 to carry out operations against the Steyr Aircraft Works in Southern Austria. Nothing was heard from the aircraft after take off and it did not return to base. All five crew were missing. Post war investigations revealed that a single aircraft had bombed the Aircraft Works on 24 February 1944, and LN 641 was apparently returning from the mission when it crashed. Extensive searches in the area and north west Yugoslavia, failed to find any trace of the missing aircraft or crew, and they were recorded as having no known grave. They are commemorated on the Malta Memorial.

 

Nephew of Frederick Isaac Topple died WW1.