A Boy called Egg, chapter two

The boy called Egg never recovered from what his mother told him at school ‘going home time’ on Monday 5th April 1943. The trauma stalked Ian for the rest of his life. His mother never did find anyone else like her Fabe, as he had hoped and encouraged. Bertha remained a widow until her death, perhaps content with the philosophical motto of Faber’s RAF Squadron 57 - 'I change my body not my spirit'.

With no known grave for his father, Ian the boy called Egg imagined for the rest of the war that his father might be in a POW camp somewhere in Germany. Ian believed that one day, his father would come striding back up the cul-de-sac of Forest Lawn, his RAF kit bag slung over his shoulder – a kit bag so capacious that his father would sometimes carry Egg inside.

Egg no longer led his own squadron tearing down the playground runway at school. Ian could never talk about his father. He never married and never had children. Egg died in late 2013 with a heart that was probably broken beyond repair in 1943.

We, his remaining family would be most keen to find any living descendants of the crew of

X-Ray, three of whom were married and who may have had children. The boy called Egg might not have been the only child who was bereaved and made so bereft by the loss of Lancaster X-Ray. Perhaps they too wonder what happened to their fathers?

We could help them to fill in gaps in their family history or share and exchange information about what happened on the night of 4/5th April 1943. We would especially like to put faces to the names of the crew of X-Ray. There must be photographs out there of Benjamin, Albert, George, Stanley and the two Alan’s (Haddow & Wood).

Egg experienced a profound loss in common with so many children with fathers in RAF Bomber Command. Statistically there must be many 80+ year-olds still out there who suffered the same trauma as young Ian Weldon.

This article is not only written for these children of loss, but also in the hope that some light might be cast on the friendships amongst the crew of X-Ray.

The photograph of Alan Haddow is purely an educated and inspired guess from Air Commodore Wendy Rothery, as to the identity of Alan. It’s difficult to make out if that is a ‘WO’ or an ‘AG’ notation on his brevet. Wendy points out that Lancaster Navigators and Radio Operators worked side-by-side, were often friends and relied and helped each other. Faber and Alan look relaxed and happy in each other’s company, for what might have been the last photograph taken of them alive.

On the other hand, this photograph might portray Sergeant Albert Evans, the Mid-Upper Gunner on X-Ray who lived in Stockport near Liverpool. He was married and at 34 years old, was the eldest of the crew. Was Albert a family man? Did he and Faber travel together to Liverpool and Stockport to visit their wives and children?

Our information about the rest of the crew of X-Ray is drawn from the Runnymede Memorial records and although we have their service numbers, we would have no right to access the records of these lost men. The Tail Gunner Alan Wood, for example, would appear to have no family and his age is not listed. Might he have been from Australia, New Zealand or Canada? This is a mystery we’d like to solve.

The 57 Squadron Association would be the place to which the families and descendants of the crew of X-Ray might gravitate. If you are out there, we’d like to find you.

To this end, the details of the lost X-Ray crew are as follows:

Sergeant Benjamin Ernest Spicer, Bomb Aimer. Service Number 1393578,

57 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 5th April 1943, aged 20.

Benjamin was the son of Ernest and Frances Isabella Spicer of Hornsey, Middlesex.

Sergeant Albert Rowland Evans, Mid-Upper Gunner. Service Number 1492250,

57 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 5th April 1943, aged 34.

Albert was son of James Rowland Evans and Mabel Evans, of Stockport and husband to Hilda Mary Evans, also of Stockport, Cheshire.

Pilot Officer Faber Ernest Frederick Weldon. Service Number 130519,

57 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 5th April 1943, aged 31.

Faber was the son of Ernest A. and Maud Weldon and husband of Bertha Weldon, of Brittas Bridge, County Wicklow, Ireland. Faber Weldon was the father of the Boy called Egg.

Sergeant George Raymond Harbottle, Pilot Engineer. Service Number 538409,

57 Squadron Royal Air Force. Died 5th April 1943 aged 25.

George was the son of George and Florence Harbottle and husband to Dora Winifred Harbottle, of Peterborough, Northamptonshire.

Squadron Leader Stanley Norman Tuttell Wallage, Pilot. Service Number 33350, 57 Squadron Royal Air Force. Died 5th April 1943 aged 25.

Stanley was the son of Flt. Lieut. S. H. S. Wallage, M.C., and L. E. Wallage and husband to Joan D. Wallage.

Sergeant Alan Haddow Radio Operator. Service Number 1365803, 57 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 5th April 1943, aged 22.

Alan was the son of Margaret C. L. Haddow, of Thornliebank, Renfrewshire.

Sergeant Alan Richard Wood, Tail Gunner. Service Number 1230388, 57 Squadron Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Died 5th April 1943, age unknown. Alan was somebody’s son.

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Lancaster X-Ray W.4252 - 57 Squadron, must now lie on the bed of the North Sea and be the final resting place of Benjamin, Albert, Faber, George, Stanley and the two Alan’s (Haddow & Wood).

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Grateful acknowledgment to Air Commodore Wendy Rothery of the 57 & 630 RAF Squadron Association for decoding the call sign for Lancaster W.4252, X-Ray.

If any members of the association, or readers of this article have any information about the crew of X-Ray, or the operation of 4/5th April 1943, the family of Pilot Officer Faber Weldon, who was my uncle, would be glad to hear from you. Michael Rainsberry, michael@cotswoldexpeditions.com

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A Boy called Egg, chapter one

4 August 2023

It happened almost everyday and in all weathers. Of all the games they played, this was the best and the most exciting. The squadron queued ready for takeoff, their full-throated roars growing ever louder. One-by-one the brakes were released and the Lancs thundered down the tarmac, arms outstretched, flashing past the swings, over the hopscotch court and scattering squealing children in all directions. Aged nearly 5, Ian Weldon had become an ‘officer’ and a leader amongst his peer group. He had his own squadron of Lancasters at Monksdown Primary School, Norris Green, Liverpool. Ian was affectionately dubbed “ Egg” by his parents. He was a much-loved-only son who worshipped his father, Pilot Officer Faber Weldon. Like all children of serving officers in RAF Bomber Command, especially in Liverpool in 1943, young Ian was accorded an unspoken respect at his school, both amongst his friends and within his neighbourhood. Most people had experienced the city taking a hammering at the hands of the Luftwaffe between April 1940 and January 1942. Pilot Officer Faber Weldon, 57 Squadron RAF was personally repaying Nazi Germany for what they had been doing to his city. Ian’s father was a Navigator in 57 Squadron, flying in Lancasters out of RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, a station they briefly shared with 617 Squadron, which was preparing and training for Operation Chastise. He would have seen the top-secret comings and goings of Lancasters with their Mid-Upper turrets removed and unusual modifications under the fuselage. One of the last streets to be hit by the Germans during the Liverpool Blitz took place on 10th January 1942, when the house of Alois Hitler Jr. in Upper Stanhope Street, Liverpool 8, was destroyed. Alois was the half-brother of Adolf Hitler. His house was a mere 3 miles from number 4 Forest Lawn, West Derby, Liverpool 12, home to Faber Ernest Frederick Weldon and his wife Bertha, originally from Brittas Bridge, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Alois Hitler had also met and married an Irish woman, Bridget Dowling, and settled in Liverpool, but there the coincidences ended. Bertha and Faber had married in 1938. He was a former policeman, and it was whilst Bertha was expecting their longed-for child that their baby was simply referred to as “Egg”. Faber Weldon, aged 31 in 1943, was a giant of a man standing at over 6’ 3”. He may at one time have been the tallest policeman in Liverpool and was even more imposing as he stood atop his podium directing traffic at a busy Liverpool crossroads. He was the sort who would never have been able to squeeze with ease through an escape tunnel from a German prison camp, or pass himself off in disguise, if he ever got out. Working at his station in the Lancaster meant he sat close to his friend, 22-year-old Radio Operator, Sergeant Alan Haddow. It’s possible that this photograph, taken in the back garden of Faber’s house at 4 Forest Lawn, West Derby, Liverpool shows Alan, a single man, a Scot from Glasgow and son to Margaret C.L. Haddow of Thornliebank, Renfrewshire. Just one parent listed in the Runnymede Memorial next of kin records for Alan suggests that his mother Margaret may have been a widow. Perhaps the giant, much older Faber had become a father figure to Alan. The following photographs, all taken on the same roll of film, show a smiling family visit with Faber, Bertha, and Egg, here bursting with pride, happiness and excitement.