ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 21374
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| Date: | Sunday 16 August 1942 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Avro Manchester Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 50 CF RAF |
| Registration: | L7475 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 7 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Marloes, Pembrokeshire, Wales -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Talbenny, Pembrokeshire |
| RAF Wigsley, Nottinghamshire |
Engine caught fire on take-off, crashlanded.
From: RAF Talbenny (RAF Wigsley home airfield).
Mission: Familiarisation training.
Details:
The Avro Manchester design used the Rolls-Royce Vulture 24-cylinder X-block engine, which was two Rolls-Royce Peregrine Vee cylinder blocks mounted one on top of the other, the bottom one inverted to give the "X" shape. When developed in 1935, the Vulture engine had promise it was rated at 1,760 hp but it proved woefully unreliable and had to be derated to 1,480–1,500 hp. in service these proved to be extremely unreliable. Aviation author Jon Lake stated of the Vulture: "The engine made the Manchester mainly notable for its unreliability, poor performance, and general inadequacy to the task at hand" and attributed the aircraft's poor service record to the engine troubles. Another post war narrative of an unknown RAF pilot quotes:
“I was one of the six original pilots to have flown with the first Manchester squadron. That was a disaster. The aircraft itself, the airframe, had many shortcomings in equipment in the beginning, but as we found out Avro were excellent in doing modifications and re-equipping the aeroplane. The engines never were and never did become reliable. They did not give enough power for the aeroplane, so we ended up with two extremely unreliable 1,750 hp engines having to haul a 50,000-pound aircraft. We should really have had 2,500 hp engines. You felt that if you'd lost one, that was it, you weren't coming home. It didn't matter if you feathered the propeller or not. There was only one way you went and that was down. I have seen an aircraft doing a run up on the ground and have two pistons come right out through the side of the engine. The original bearings were made without any silver as an economy measure, so they weren't hard enough. The bearings would collapse the connecting rod and the piston would fling out through the side of the engine and bang! Your engine just destroyed itself.”
L7475 was one of a batch of 155 built at Avro’s Chadderton works between August 1940 and November 1941. Her first operational posting was to No.97 squadron with the radio codes ‘OL-B’ during October 1941. She was involved on a raid over the German held port of Brest, the primary targets were the heavy cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The crew was F/O Hallows A/C Captain, Sgt’s Smith & Cutting, F/Sgt’s Louch, Jones, Goacher and Broomfield.
Extract from the mission report:
“The target was partially obscured but managed to find a gap in the clouds. But unable to find the target. Even though heavy flak was encountered, but inaccurate. Spent 15 minutes over target area and only managed to drop ‘Nickel’. RTB after ditching bombs mid channel”.
L7475 was also involved in raids over Emden and St Nazire while with 97 squadron.
Her next squadron was to No.61 with the radio codes ‘OR-D’ at RAF Woolfox Lodge, Rutland. Her first sortie took place on the 12th of February 1942 on an attack by five squadron Manchester’s on German Battle Cruisers in the North Sea off the Dutch coast. The captain of L7475 was S/Ldr West. The combat report reads:
“Flying at 3,000 feet above thick cloud. At the intended ETA position, dropped to 500 feet and broke through cloud. Commenced a square search and crossed the Dutch coast heading north. Encountered an Me-110, before the E/A could react, P/O Komiski (tail gunner) fired on the E/A which after observing hits to the rear cockpit, broke away. One enemy Destroyer was seen, flew in area for ½ an hour, encountered intense flak. Observed three Me-109’s and a lone Ju-88. No sighting of the larger enemy units and being too low to safely drop bombs, returned to base with a full load.”
Of the five aircraft involved, only one sighted and bombed the intended targets, but their bombs undershot the target and straddled an escorting Destroyer, the Manchester was badly hit by Flak and was lucky to return. L7475 next mission was a ‘Gardening’ sortie off the Heligoland Blight, the captain was P/O Tofield.
“Took off and climbed to 8,000 feet, encountered heavy ‘Icing’ which was thrown from the airscrews and through the cabin Perspex, lost height to 600 feet and then ran into an intense snowstorm, this caused a delay to the TOT (Time On Target). Decided to turn around”.
The next mission after repair took place on the night of the 27th/28th of February. They were hit by accurate Flak and turned around with a suspected Hydraulic leak, on landing there was no pressure in the brakes!
The next sortie took place on the 5th of March. This was another ‘Gardening’ mission, this time off the Ile-De-Croix, captained by Sgt Furby, the Op Report reads:
“Flew around the vicinity of the Garden for nearly an hour, before finally pin-pointing & planting the Vegetable in the allotted area.”
8 aircraft of 61 squadron took part in an attack on Essen on the 19/20th of March. The captain again, was P/O Tofield and the crew of L7475 successfully hit the centre of Essen. But there was 10/10ths cloud over Woolfox and they were diverted to Waddington. Then an attack on Lubec on the 28th, captained by F/Lt Cecil, they dropped to 100 feet on the return route and the front and rear turrets fired on German houses en-route.
L7475’s last mission was on the 10th of April and her captain was again, P/O Tofield. The target again, was Essen. Dropped bombs on target but were ‘coned’ by searchlights, Tofield was only able to shake off the light, was to dive and fly erratically.
She then came to 50 squadron who were being re-equipped with the Manchester. They found it to be disappointing, with unreliable engines and had a lower ceiling than the Hampden it replaced. Despite these problems, 50 Squadron continued in operations. L7475 continued on familiar missions of Gardening and Nickeling. She was also one of 50 squadrons contributing 17 Manchester’s to Operation Millennium, the "1,000 bomber" raid against Cologne on the night of the 30/31st of May 1942. It lost two aircraft that night. One of which piloted by Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Manser, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for pressing on with the attack after his aircraft was heavily damaged, and when a crash became inevitable, sacrificing his own life by remaining at the controls to allow the rest of his crew to parachute to safety. He had piloted L7475 on more than one occasion.
F/O Manser flying record excerpt:
“8/9 May 1942 Manchester L7475, P/O Manser, F/Sgt Tobias, P/O Barnes, P/O Horsley, Sgt Williams, Sgt Mills, Sgt Naylor. GARDENING ROSEMARY.
19/20 May 1942 Manchester L7475, P/O Manser, P/O Barnes, P/O Kauffling, P/O Horsley, Sgt King, Sgt Gregg, Sgt Penfold. MANNHEIM”.
50 squadron began the conversion form the Manchester during the middle of May to the superior Avro Lancaster.
L7475 was sent to 50 Conversion Flight on type based at RAF Wigsley. (50 & 83 Conversion Flights converged to form 1654 Conversion Unit) the trainee crew were on a familiarisation navigational cross-country flight which required them to land at RAF Talbenny to re-fuel before the return leg back. Just after lift-off, while in initial climb, the aircraft stalled and crashed near the runway end after one of the engines caught fire. All seven crew members were injured while the aircraft was destroyed.
Crew:
Apart from a Sgt H. A. Phillips, the remaining other six crew are not known, all suffered slight injuries.
Wreckage:
The aircraft burst into flames, what remained was easily removed but as with all crashed aircraft that caught fire there is always something left below ground. This field being used for all aspects of farming, it is ploughed often, bringing small fragments to the surface.
Additional Information:
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 England, they settled in Radlett, Hertfordshire. He was a student at Victoria Boys' School, Kurseong, Darjeeling and Aldenham School, Elstree, Hertfordshire. He was accepted by the Royal Air Force in August 1940, and Manser was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in May 1941. After a navigational course and final operational training at 14 OTU, RAF Cottesmore, he was posted to No. 50 Squadron.
8/9 May 1942 Manchester L7475, P/O Manser, F/Sgt Tobias, P/O Barnes, P/O Horsley, Sgt Williams, Sgt Mills, Sgt Naylor. GARDENING ROSEMARY.
19/20 May 1942 Manchester L7475, P/O Manser, P/O Barnes, P/O Kauffling, P/O Horsley, Sgt King, Sgt Gregg, Sgt Penfold. MANNHEIM
Manser was promoted to Flying Officer on 6 May.
For the 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne on the night of 30 May 1942, Manser was captain and first pilot of Avro Manchester bomber 'D' for Dog. He took off from RAF Skellingthorpe at 23.01 hrs.
As he came over the target, his aircraft was caught in searchlights and although he bombed the target successfully from 7,000 ft instead of the briefing height of 12,000 ft, it was hit by flak which blew off part of the bomb bay doors. In an effort to escape the anti-aircraft fire he took violent evasive action; this reduced his altitude to only 1,000 ft 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 prepared to abandon the aircraft, by then barely controllable and a crash inevitable. The aircraft was by now over Belgium and Manser ordered the crew to bale out but refused the offer of a parachute for himself. He remained at the controls and sacrificed himself to save his crew. As the crew parachuted down, they saw the bomber crash in flames into a dyke at Bree, 13 miles northeast of Genk in Belgium.
P/O Barnes was taken prisoner, but Sgt Baveystock, P/O Horsley, Sgt King, Sgt Mills and Sgt Naylor all evaded capture and made their way back to the UK. The testimonies of the five evaders were instrumental in the posthumous award of the VC.
The citation for the VC read:
"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."
Nickeling – Term used for a mission dropping leaflets over enemy territory.
Gardening - During the Second World War "gardening" was the RAF term given to the dropping of mines from bomber aircraft into the sea. The mines were "sown" near ports and harbours, inland waterways, estuaries and in busy shipping lanes. Throughout Europe the coastline was split into various targets and given distinct code names; the majority were given names of trees and plants.
Sources:
Air Britain RAF Aircraft L1000 - N99999
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.rafcommands.com
www.lordashcroftmedals.com
www.dyfedarchiaeology.org
www.no-50-and-61-squadron-association.co.uk
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 20-Jun-2008 13:49 | JINX | Added |
| 12-Nov-2018 18:46 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |
| 12-Jul-2022 18:57 | Davies 62 | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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