Charles Frederick Andrew

Charles Frederick Andrew was a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve officer whose Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted in May 1943 while he was serving with No. 35 Squadron. No. 35 was one of the Pathfinder Force squadrons, and its crews flew demanding target-marking and main-force leadership operations at a time when Bomber Command was pushing deeper into Germany by night. The Gazette notice places Andrew among a group of decorated bomber officers recognised for operational service in that period.

Andrew died on 30 July 1943, aged 30. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, indicating that he has no known grave. The currently accessible sources do not yet give a full aircraft loss narrative, so the biography stays within the secure facts: his service number, rank, squadron, decoration, date of death and commemoration. Even so, the 35 Squadron and DFC links show that he belonged to the Pathfinder bomber war rather than a routine home posting.