Joan lost 2 fiances to Spitfire crashes

Published date12 August 2022
Publication titleExpress, The/The Express on Sunday
Joan Welch was engaged to Flt Lt Lester Sanders, 23, of 222 Squadron who died on a flight over Staffordshire in 1942. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross for defending Malta

Joan, from Hales, near Market Drayton, Shropshire, lived by an RAF base and found love again with Pilot Officer Ian Smith. They were engaged when he died in a Spitfire crash in Palestine in 1945.

After the war she married Phillip Eaton. They had met in a council architect's office.

Joan died at a care home in Horsham, West Sussex, in 2020 aged 100 and her war mementos passed to her son Mark Eaton. Her diary entry for the day Flt Lt Sanders died is: "Lester killed."

Her story is in Spitfire Down...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT