A good Second War Lancaster Wireless Operator’s D.F.M. group of four awarded to Warrant Officer C. Manser, 101 Squadron, Royal Air Force, who flew on 31 operational sorties over heavily defended German targets, 1943-44, including to Berlin 8 times and the Nuremburg Raid on which 95 R.A.F. aircraft were lost - Bomber Command’s worst day of the War. He was tragically killed in the Gatow Air Disaster on 5 April 1948 when a Russian Yak fighter collided with his plane; one of the events leading to the Berlin Blockade and subsequent Airlift.

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (1391829 F/Sgt. C. Manser. R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, generally good very fine or better (4) £2,000-£2,400

D.F.M. London Gazette 13 October 1944.
‘In recognition of gallantry displayed in flying operations against the enemy.’

The original Recommendation states: ‘Flight Sergeant Manser has completed 30 sorties with this squadron against some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany including 8 attacks on Berlin and on all of these operations, he has displayed a keen determination and his steadfastness of purpose is worthy of high praise. This N.C.O. is a Wireless Operator of outstanding ability whose knowledge and general airmanship have proved invaluable to his Captain on many occasions. Very keen and efficient, Flight Sergeant Manser concentrates on the task in hand with great determination and has helped in no small measure to produce the fine results achieved by his crew. By his courage and fine example, Flight Sergeant Manser has set a very high standard and it is recommended that his consistent good work and unfailing devotion to duty at all times fully merit this recommendation for an award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.’
Remarks by Station Commander: ‘Flight Sergeant Manser has consistently done splendid work, often under difficult and dangerous conditions. His coolness, courage and determination are most praiseworthy and he has set an excellent example of devotion to duty to the other Wireless Operators in the squadron.’

Charles Manser was born in 1921 and enlisted in the Royal Air Force in October 1941. After training he was posted for operational service as a Wireless Operator to 101 Squadron (Lancasters) based at Ludford Magna, Lincolnshire on 7 November 1943. In October 1943 the squadron’s aircraft had been fitted with A.B.C. (Airborne Cigar) jamming equipment which blocked German fighter controller’s broadcasts, ‘this apparatus, which searched out and then jammed enemy R/T frequencies, was vital to the “Battle of the Ether”, and a specially-trained German speaking operator accompanied the crew. The special Lancasters - they were readily distinguishable from normal aircraft by their two large dorsal masts - carried a normal bomb load less the weight of the operator and the A.B.C. apparatus... like many other highly ingenious radio counter-measures devices, was, of course, top secret’ (Bomber Squadrons of The R.A.F. and Their Aircraft, by P. J. R. Moyes, refers). Deliberately breaking the standing operating procedure of radio silence to conduct the jamming made the aircraft highly vulnerable to being tracked and attacked, which resulted in 101 Squadron having the highest casualty rate of any R.A.F. Squadron, losing 145 Lancasters on operations, as German night fighters could detect the jamming transmissions.

Manser flew in 31 operational sorties with a regular crew entirely composed of Sergeants, piloted by Flight Sergeant K. Corkhill. Their targets included Frankfurt (3 times); Berlin (8 times, including the ‘Battle of Berlin’ on 20 January 1944: ‘Attacked By 3 Me 110s. Cannon Shells Thro Portside etc. Emergency Landing at Lindholme. A/C Write Off’ (the recipient’s Log Book refers)); Stettin; Leipzig; Stuttgart (twice); Schweinfurt; Essen; Nuremburg (the Nuremberg Raid, when 95 out of 795 aircraft were lost on what was Bomber Command’s biggest loss of the war); Aulnoye (the start of preparations for D-Day); Rouen; Cologne; Maintenon; Venissieux; Orleans; Duisburg; Brunswick; Aachen (twice); and Trappes.

Upon completion of his operational tour at the end of May 1944, Manser was posted to No. 28 O.T.U., Wmyeswold as a WO1 radio instructor on Wellingtons. Subsequent postings included to 93 Group, Screened Pilots School; 27 O.T.U. at R.A.F. Church Broughton and 109 (T) O.T.U. at R.A.F. Crosby on Eden for conversion to the Dakota, he qualified as a R.A.F. Transport Command Wireless Operator on 28 February 1945. He was seconded to B.O.A.C. Whitchurch, March-June 1945 before being discharged from the R.A.F. on 14 November 1946 with the recommendation: ‘W/O Manser has always carried out his R.A.F. duties conscientiously and efficiently. His character is exemplary.’

After the war Manser was employed as a radio operator by British European Airways flying to European destinations. On 5 April 1948 he took off as part of the crew in a Vickers Viking on a scheduled flight from London to Gatow, Berlin (British Zone) with 10 passengers. The book 10 Tons for Tempelhof, The Berlin Airlift, by Bob Clarke offers the following account of the flight:
‘A scheduled British European Airways Vickers Viking was on its final approach into Gatow, when suddenly a Yak-3 Russian fighter passed close by at speed. The Yak then turned and made another high-speed pass, misjudged and crashed head on into the Viking, ripping the starboard wing clean-off the aircraft. Both aircraft crashed in flames killing all on board, wreckage coming down on both sides of the sector border. Major Henry Herbert was immediately on the scene. He discovered the Yak had come down in the British sector but this was already guarded by Russian troops. Unfortunately the Viking fuselage lay just inside the Soviet Sector; this too was surrounded by armed Russians. After lengthy negotiations Herbert agreed to allow one Russian sentry to remain at the Yak site as long as one British soldier was allowed to stay with the Viking. The bodies of the four crew, John Ralph, pilot, Norman Merrington, co-pilot, Charles Manser, radio operator, and Leonard C. Goodman, steward, along with their ten passengers, including two from America and one from Australia, had to be left at the crash site while the political wrangling over access to the aircraft dragged on. Robertson [British Military Governor Berlin] was enraged by the situation and immediately ordered fighter escort for all British aircraft using the [Berlin] corridors. Sokolovsky (Soviet Military Governor) even gave Robertson an assurance that the Soviet Military Authorities had no intention in interfering with aircraft using the corridors. However this attitude did not last for long. When a quadripartite board of enquiry was requested the Soviets blamed the accident on the British, saying that no request for the aircraft to be allowed to traverse Soviet airspace had been lodged and in any case the Yak was legally allowed to be there.

A British-Soviet commission of enquiry was set up on 10 April. The Soviet representative, Major-Marshal Alexandrov, refused to hear the evidence of German or American witnesses, claiming that only British and Soviet evidence was relevant and in any case Germans were unreliable. On 13 April the British ended proceedings by saying they were unable to proceed on this basis.
Thereupon a British court of enquiry was convened by General Robertson and held in Berlin on 14–16 April. This found that the crash was accidental, that the fault in the crash was entirely that of the Soviet pilot, and that Captain John Ralph and First Officer Norman Merrington, D.F.C., of B.E.A. were not in the slightest to blame for the crash. However, the Soviets announced that the fault was entirely that of the British aircraft, which emerged from low cloud and crashed into the fighter. The British enquiry heard that the Viking was flying at 1,500 feet, well below the cloud base at 3,000 feet.

Eventually a board of enquiry was convened but it comprised only Russian and British investigators. The board published its findings in two separate reports but both came to similar conclusions, the accident was just that, no malicious intent was intended, and the crash was down to an error on behalf of the Yak pilot.’


Sold with the following original documents:
R.A.F. Navigator’s, Air Bomber’s and Air Gunner’s Flying Log Book (21 March 1943 - 12 June 1945, the latter months including his secondment to B.O.A.C.); R.A.F. Service and Release Book; Letter to recipient’s father-in-law from the Private Secretary to the Military Governor of Berlin, dated 29 April 1948; Letter to recipient’s son from the R.A.F. Record and Pay Office, dated 24 October 1969; Letter to recipient’s son from the German Air Attaché regarding the commemoration of 50th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, dated 3 February 1998; Two R.A.F. Ludford Magna Sergeants’ Mess Christmas Dinner 1943 Menus, one signed by the Wireless Operators of 101 Squadron, the other signed by all 8 members of the recipient’s regular Lancaster crew; a number of photographs of recipient from varying stages of his career; Three R.A.F. Notebooks, used during various courses; Air Ministry and Ministry of Civil Aviation Communications Procedures Manual.