Stewart, Charles Duncan Stuart, son of Col. Charles Victor Stewart OBE MC RE, architect, of Sidcup, Kent; b. 19 Apr. 1918; adm. Sept. 1931 (A); left July 1932; Sgt Pilot Bomber Command RAF; killed in action Jan. 1942.
Charles Duncan Stuart Stewart was born at Kensington, London on the 19th of April 1918 the elder son of Colonel Charles Victor Stewart OBE, MC, Royal Engineers, later an architect, and Doris Stuart (nee Kettelwell) Stewart of 12, Cottesmore Gardens, Kensington. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from September 1931 to July 1932.
He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as a pilot and rose to the rank of Sergeant.
On the night of the 25th/26th of January 1942, Bomber Command dispatched 61 aircraft to attack enemy warships in Brest Harbour. 49 Squadron dispatched seventeen aircraft for the raid and they began taking off at 4.50pm. When they arrived over the target it was found to be covered by 10/10th cloud with most of the aircraft attacking alternate targets in the area of the docks, while eight returned without making an attack at all. All the aircraft returned to base.
Charles Stewart and his crew took off from RAF Scampton at 5.12pm on the 25th of January 1942 in Hampden AT129 EA-O for the operation. The aircraft was carrying a load of bombs and pyrotechnics. At the time, he had accumulated 238.20 hours of total solo flying time of which 159.20 were on Hampden aircraft. Two minutes after lifting off the aircraft crashed to the west of the airfield at the hamlet of Bransby, between the villages of Sturton and Saxilby at 5.10pm killing the entire crew.
The crew was: -
Sergeant Charles Duncan Stuart Stewart (Pilot)
Sergeant Albert Hibbet (Air Gunner)
Sergeant Kenneth Edward Northrop (Observer)
Sergeant Leonard Arthur Jardine (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
It is thought that the cause of the crash was due to ice having collected on the flying surfaces.
His funeral took place on the 31st of January 1942.
The crew are commemorated on a memorial in a wooden shelter at the Bransby Equestrian Centre.
He is buried at Sutton Cemetery, Section B, Grave 35.
