Edye Rolleston Manning
Born(1889-02-14)14 February 1889
Sydney, Australia
Died26 April 1957(1957-04-26) (aged 68)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army (1914–18)
 Royal Air Force (1918–45)
Years of service1914–1935
1939–1945
RankAir Commodore
Commands heldNo. 221 Group RAF (1941)
RAF Manston (1933–36)
RAF Hornchurch (1930–33)
No. 7 Squadron (1928–29)
RAF Northolt (1927–28)
No. 6 Squadron (1922–24)
No. 6 Stores Depot (1919–20)
Battles/warsFirst World War
Second World War
AwardsCommander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross

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][5][6] In the early days of the Second World War he was tasked with establishing a string of airfields in the Far East from Lashio to Mingladon.[7][8][9]

Early life

Edye Rolleston Manning was born in Australia on 14 February 1889, the son of William Alexander Manning, a solicitor practising in Sydney, Australia.[4][10] He was educated at Bedford Modern School in England before going on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.[4]

Military career

When the First World War broke out, Manning ceased his studies at Edinburgh and joined the cavalry, serving in France and Belgium with the 15th Hussars.[4][11] 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.[12] He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 while serving with No. 3 Squadron.[12]

As Commanding Officer of No. 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.[12] 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.[13][14] 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.[12]

After his aborted flight, Manning became Officer Commanding of RAF Hornchurch (1930)[15] and RAF Manston (1933)[16] before retiring in 1935 to become a stockbroker in Sydney.[11][12] At the advent of the Second World War he was persuaded to return to the Royal Air Force, becoming Officer Commanding No. 221 Group (RAF) as a group captain in March 1941, establishing a "string of airfields stretching from Lashio to Mingladon".[12][17] In January 1942 he was appointed Air Commodore of the Group.[12]

Manning died on 26 April 1957.[11] There is a photographic portrait of Manning at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Obituary in The Times, Air CDRE. E.J. Manning, 29 April 1957, p.12
  2. ↑ "Manning, Air Commodore Edye Rolleston, (14 Feb. 1889–26 April 1957), RAF (ret.); member of Sydney Stock Exchange". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U240333. ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1.
  3. ↑ "Who's who in Australia". google.com. 1950. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The Aeroplane". google.com. July 1935. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Debrett's Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage ..." google.com. 1931. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette, 8 June 1945, Issue 37124, p. 3073
  7. ↑ Grehan, John; Mace, Martin (30 March 2015). Disaster in the Far East 1940– 1942. ISBN 9781783462094. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  8. ↑ Jackson, Ashley (9 March 2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. ISBN 9780826437600. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Burton, John (23 September 2013). Fortnight of Infamy. ISBN 9781612515243. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  10. ↑ "Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage". google.com. 1931. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 "E R Manning_P". rafweb.org. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Grounds, Eric (28 September 2015). The Quiet Australian. ISBN 9781861514783. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Flight International". google.com. 1928. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "Aviation Week and Space Technology". google.com. April 1928. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  15. ↑ "1930 – 0503 – Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "1935 – 2- 0259 – Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  17. ↑ Grehan, John; Mace, Martin (30 September 2014). Far East Air Operations 1942–1945. ISBN 9781473841215. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  18. ↑ "Edye Rolleston Manning". npg.org.uk. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
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