Edye Rolleston Manning

Air-Commodore
Edye Rolleston Manning
CBE DSO MC
Born 14 February 1889
Died 26 April 1957(1957-04-26) (aged 68)
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Air Force
Rank Air-Commodore
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards CBE DSO MC

Air-Commodore Edye Rolleston Manning CBE DSO MC (14 February 1889 – 26 April 1957) was an Australian born senior officer in the Royal Air Force.[1][2][3][4] In the early days of World War II he was tasked with establishing a string of airfields in the Far East from Lashio to Mingladon.[5][6][7]

Life

Edye Rolleston Manning was born in Australia on 14 February 1889, the son of William Alexander Manning, a solicitor practising in New South Wales, Australia.[2][8] He was educated at Bedford Modern School in England before studying medicine at Edinburgh University.[2]

When World War I broke out, Manning ceased his studies at Edinburgh and joined the Cavalry, serving in France and Belgium with the 15th Hussars.[2][9] Frustrated by the stalemate of trench warfare he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps where he attained RAeC Certificate No. 2253 on 9 October 1916.[10] He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 while serving with Number 3 Squadron.[10]

As Commanding Officer of Number 6 Squadron, Manning was responsible for the evacuation of the British High Commissioner from Suliemanieh in Kurdistan after which he was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.[10] In 1928 he chose to go on half-pay in order to attempt a flight from England to Australia in a Westland Widgeon he owned privately.[11][12] He got as far as Tunis before crashing at Lebda; Manning was uninjured but his plane was a write-off and he was forced to abandon the attempt.[10]

After his aborted flight, Manning became Officer Commanding of RAF Hornchurch (1930)[13] and RAF Manston (1933)[14] before retiring in 1935 to become a stockbroker in Sydney.[9][10] At the advent of World War II he was persuaded to return to the Royal Air Force becoming Officer Commanding No. 221 Group as a Group Captain in March 1941, establishing a 'string of airfields stretching from Lashio to Mingladon'.[10][15] In January 1942 he was appointed Air Commodore of the Group.[10]

Manning died on 26 April 1957.[9] There is a photographic portrait of Manning at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Who's who in Australia". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "The Aeroplane". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Debrett's Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage ...". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  4. ↑ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37124/supplement/3073/data.pdf
  5. ↑ "Disaster in the Far East 1940– 1942". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "The British Empire and the Second World War". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "Fortnight of Infamy". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "E R Manning_P". rafweb.org. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Quiet Australian". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Flight International". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Aviation Week and Space Technology". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "1930 – 0503 – Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "1935 – 2- 0259 – Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  15. ↑ "Far East Air Operations 1942–1945". google.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "Edye Rolleston Manning". npg.org.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2015.


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