Edye Rolleston Manning

Edye Rolleston Manning was born in Australia on 14 February 1889, the son of William Alexander Manning, a solicitor practising in Sydney, Australia.[3][9] He was educated at Bedford Modern School in England before going on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.[3]

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.[3][10] 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.[11] He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 while serving with No. 3 Squadron.[11]

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.[11] 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.[12][13] 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.[11]

After his aborted flight, Manning became Officer Commanding of RAF Hornchurch (1930)[14] and RAF Manston (1933)[15] before retiring in 1935 to become a stockbroker in Sydney.[10][11] 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".[11][16] In January 1942 he was appointed Air Commodore of the Group.[11]

Manning died on 26 April 1957.[10] There is a photographic portrait of Manning at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[17]