Operation: Sweep

Date: 11th July 1941 (Friday)

Unit: No. 485 Squadron (11 Group)

Type: Spitfire IIa

Serial: P7773

Code: OU-D

Base: RAF Redhill, Surrey

Location: Strait of Dover

Pilot: P/O. Charles Stewart NZ/44231 RNZAF Age 25. Missing - believed killed

REASON FOR LOSS:

Taking off at 14:00 hrs with 12 others from the squadron. They were attacked by 6 enemy fighters over Gravelines at 23,000 ft. P/O. Stewart was last seen over the Strait of Dover but nothing could be found of either the pilot or his aircraft.

Thought to have been shot down by possibly Lt. Robert Unzeitig of 1./JG26.

He escaped death earlier when on the 24th August 1940 he was shot down flying Spitfire P9389 KL-A whilst with 54 Squadron. He baled out and was rescued by an ASR launch from the Channel. His aircraft crashed in School Lane, Kingsdown, Kent, England.

Burial details:

P/O. Charles Stewart. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 34. Born on the 22nd November 1916, the son of Charles and Mary Stewart (née Geary), of Wellington, New Zealand. Educated at Wellington College. Accountancy Studies at a commercial college. A total of 438 flying hours logged and on his138th operational sortie. The family suffered the loss of his older brother, 27 year old LAC Daniel Donald Stewart NZ/403073 a driver with the RNZAF killed in a motor vehicle accident in Australia on the 14th March 1942 after returning from the Far East. He left a wife, Edna Stewart, of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.

Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this pilot with thanks to the research by Errol Martyn and his publications: “For Your Tomorrow Vols. 1-3”, Auckland Cenotaph, Weekly News of New Zealand, other sources as quoted below:

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2024 Last Modified: 15 March 2021, 10:16