Leslie Thomas Manser

Held his stricken bomber steady so his crew could parachute.

Leslie Thomas Manser was born on 11 May 1922 in New Delhi, where his father worked as an engineer in the Post and Telegraph Department. He attended Victoria School at Kurseong, then St Faith's School in Cambridge and Aldenham School in Hertfordshire after his family returned to England and settled in Radlett. Before entering the Royal Air Force, he unsuccessfully sought places in the Army and Royal Navy. His surviving 1940 diary records his interest in photography, experiments with a projection printer, mathematics studies and journeys to London.

Manser joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in August 1940 and began training at Torquay. Commissioned as a Pilot Officer on probation on 6 May 1941, he trained in navigation and on Handley Page Hampden bombers before joining No. 50 Squadron at RAF Swinderby that August. His first operational flight, as second pilot, was a raid on Frankfurt on 29 August. Further sorties were followed by postings to No. 25 Operational Training Unit and then No. 14 Operational Training Unit, where he served as an instructor.

After a brief posting to No. 420 Squadron, a Canadian squadron flying Hampdens, he rejoined No. 50 Squadron at RAF Skellingthorpe in April 1942 as it converted to Avro Manchester bombers. He flew further operations, including a leaflet-dropping sortie over Paris. His promotion to war-substantive Flying Officer took effect on 6 May 1942.

On the night of 30/31 May, Manser captained Manchester L7301 during Operation Millennium, Bomber Command's first thousand-bomber raid, against Cologne. Searchlights caught his aircraft approaching the target, but he continued through heavy anti-aircraft fire and released his bombs from 7,000 feet. Repeated hits wounded the rear gunner, filled the forward cabin with smoke and damaged the port engine. Manser tried to bring his aircraft and crew home rather than abandon the bomber immediately.

The port engine caught fire and eventually failed, leaving part of a wing burnt and the aircraft losing height. When a crash became unavoidable, Manser ordered his six companions to parachute out. He refused a parachute offered to him and remained at the controls to keep the bomber steady for their escape. All six survived, while Manser died when the aircraft crashed near Bree in Belgium on 31 May. He was twenty years old. His brief flying career ended in the action for which his posthumous Victoria Cross was announced on 23 October 1942.

Official Victoria Cross citation London Gazette, 23 October 1942

Flying Officer Leslie Thomas MANSER (66542), Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (deceased), No. 50 Squadron.

Flying Officer Manser was captain and first pilot of a Manchester aircraft which took part in the mass raid on Cologne on the night of May 30th, 1942.

As the aircraft was approaching its objective it was caught by searchlights and subjected to intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire. Flying Officer Manser held on his dangerous course and bombed the target successfully from a height of 7,000 feet.

Then he set course for base. The Manchester had been damaged and was still under heavy fire. Flying Officer Manser took violent evasive action, turning and descending to under 1,000 feet. It was of no avail. The searchlights and flak followed him until the outskirts of the city were passed. The aircraft was hit repeatedly and the rear gunner was wounded. The front cabin filled with smoke; the port engine was over-heating badly.

Pilot and crew could all have escaped safely by parachute. Nevertheless, Flying Officer Manser, disregarding the obvious hazards, persisted in his attempt to save aircraft and crew from falling into enemy hands. He took the aircraft up to 2,000 feet. Then the port engine burst into flames. It was ten minutes before the fire was mastered, but then the engine went out of action for good, part of one wing was burnt, and the air-speed of the aircraft became dangerously low.

Despite all the efforts of pilot and crew, the Manchester began to lose height. At this critical moment, Flying Officer Manser once more disdained the alternative of parachuting to safety with his crew. Instead, with grim determination, he set a new course for the nearest base, accepting for himself the prospect of almost certain death in a firm resolve to carry on to the end.

Soon, the aircraft became extremely difficult to handle and, when a crash was inevitable, Flying Officer Manser ordered the crew to bale out. A sergeant handed him a parachute but he waved it away, telling the non-commissioned officer to jump at once as he could only hold the aircraft steady for a few seconds more. While the crew were descending to safety they saw the aircraft, still carrying their gallant captain, plunge to earth and burst into flames.

In pressing home his attack in the face of strong opposition, in striving, against heavy odds, to bring back his aircraft and crew and, finally, when in extreme peril, thinking only of the safety of his comrades, Flying Officer Manser displayed determination and valour of the highest order.