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{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Leslie Manser
|image= Leslie Manser.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{birth date|df=yes|1922|05|11}}
|birth_place= New Delhi, British India
|death_date= {{Death date and age|df=yes|1942|05|31|1922|05|11}}
|death_place= [[Bree, Belgium|Bree]], [[German occupation of Belgium during World War II|German-occupied Belgium]]
|placeofburial= [[Heverlee Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery|Heverlee War Cemetery]], [[Leuven]]
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve]]
|serviceyears= 1940–1942
|rank= [[Flying officer]]
|servicenumber=
|unit=
|commands=
|battles= [[Second World War]]
*[[European theatre of World War II|European air campaign]]
**[[Bombing of Cologne in World War II|Cologne bombing campaign]]
***[[Bombing of Cologne in World War II#First 1,000 bomber raid|Operation Millenium]] {{KIA}}
|awards= [[Victoria Cross]]
|relations= [[John Neil Randle]] VC (brother-in-law)
|laterwork=
}}
'''Leslie Thomas Manser''', [[Victoria Cross|VC]] (11 May 1922 – 31 May 1942) was a British bomber pilot and a recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], which was awarded posthumously following an attack on the German city of [[Cologne]].

==Early life==
Leslie Thomas Manser was born in [[New Delhi]], India, during his father's employment as an engineer with the Post and Telegraph Department and, when the family returned to Britain, they settled in [[Radlett]], [[Hertfordshire]]. He was a pupil of Victoria Boys' School, Kurseong, [[Darjeeling]] and [[Aldenham School]], [[Elstree]], Hertfordshire.

==Royal Air Force==
Manser was accepted by the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) in August 1940, and was commissioned as a [[pilot officer]] in May 1941. After a navigational course and final operational training at [[No. 14 Operational Training Unit RAF|No. 14 Operational Training Unit]], [[RAF Cottesmore]], he was posted to [[No. 50 Squadron RAF|No. 50 Squadron]] operating the [[Handley Page Hampden]] at [[RAF Swinderby]], [[Lincolnshire]], on 27 August.

Two days after joining his squadron, Manser experienced his first operation: as a second pilot, he took part in a bombing raid on [[Frankfurt]]. During the next two months he flew six more sorties against targets including [[Berlin]], [[Hamburg]] and [[Karlsruhe]], before being posted to No. 25 Operational Training Unit, Finningley on 7 November and a month later posted back to [[No. 14 Operational Training Unit RAF|No. 14 Operational Training Unit]] as an instructor.

Manser served briefly with [[No. 420 Squadron RCAF]] (Hampdens) from March to April 1942 when he rejoined No. 50 Squadron then operating from [[RAF Skellingthorpe]], and converted to the new [[Avro Manchester]] medium bomber. He piloted one of the new aircraft during a leaflet drop over Paris, and flew a further five sorties during April and May. Manser was promoted to [[flying officer]] on 6 May.

Participating in [[Bombing of Cologne in World War II#First 1,000 bomber raid|Operation Millenium]], a bombing raid on [[Cologne]] on the night of 30 May 1942, Manser was captain and first pilot of [[Avro Manchester]] bomber 'D' for Dog. As he came over the target, his aircraft was caught in searchlights and although he bombed the target successfully from {{convert|7000|ft|m|abbr=on}} it was hit by flak. In an effort to escape the anti-aircraft fire he took violent evasive action, this reduced his altitude to only {{convert|1000|ft|m|abbr=on}} but he did not escape the flak until he was clear of the city. By this time the rear gunner was wounded, the front cabin full of smoke and the port engine overheating. Rather than abandon the aircraft and be captured, Manser tried to get the aircraft and crew to safety. The port engine then burst into flames, burning the wing and reducing airspeed to a dangerously low level. The crew made preparations to abandon the aircraft, by then barely controllable and with a crash inevitable. The aircraft was by now over Belgium, and Manser ordered the crew to bail out but refused the offer of a parachute for himself. He remained at the controls and sacrificed himself in order to save his crew. As the crew parachuted down they saw the bomber crash in flames into a dyke at [[Bree, Belgium]],{{convert|21|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} north east of [[Genk]].

Pilot Officer Barnes was taken prisoner, but Sergeant Baveystock, Pilot Officer Horsley, Sergeant King, Sergeant Mills and Sergeant Naylor all evaded capture and made their way back to the United Kingdom. The testimonies of the five evaders were instrumental in the posthumous award of the [[Victoria Cross]] for Manser. The citation for the award read:
{{quote|... 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.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35755 |supp=y |page=4593 |date=20 October 1942}}</ref>}}

[[File:Heverlee War Cemetery-29.JPG|thumb|Grave, Heverlee War Cemetery]]
Manser is buried at the [[Heverlee Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery|Heverlee War Cemetery]] in [[Leuven]], Belgium.<ref>[https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2777740/manser,-leslie-thomas/ Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Leslie Thomas Manser]</ref>

Manser was the brother-in-law of British Army captain [[John Neil Randle]], who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944.

==Legacy==
On part of the old RAF Skellingthorpe airfield from which Manser flew his last sortie, a new primary school was built. It was opened in 1981 and named the Leslie Manser Primary School.<ref>[http://www.lincoln.gov.uk/Information_page_+_3_pic_det.asp?id=8756&sec_id=2148 City of Lincoln Council – Lincolnonline] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828195459/http://www.lincoln.gov.uk/Information_page_+_3_pic_det.asp?id=8756&sec_id=2148 |date=28 August 2007 }}</ref> On 31 June 2004 a Memorial to Manser was unveiled in natural domain the "Zig", Stamprooierbroek near Molenbeersel, [[Kinrooi]] in the north-east of Belgium.

Manser's Victoria Cross is on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the [[Imperial War Museum]], London.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2777740 CWGC entry]
* [http://www.vsdh.org/vsdh/manser/index.htm information at Victoria & Dow Hill Schools website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manser, Leslie Thomas}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:British World War II recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force pilots of World War II]]
[[Category:British World War II bomber pilots]]
[[Category:Aviators killed by being shot down]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from New Delhi]]
[[Category:People educated at Aldenham School]]
[[Category:People from Radlett]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Belgium]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1942]]
[[Category:Burials at Heverlee Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Leslie Manser - Revision history

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