Paul Manning
Military
Added a connection to "Jack Denton Scott".
Object Number - UPL 6989 - Edward R Murrow, Paul Manning, John Daly and Robert Trout all wartime correspondents for CBS Radio in London in 1942.
Manning was a war correspondent for CBS radio, he worked closely with Edward Murrow throughout the Second World War. Manning was one of 8 journalists of the Writing 69th who trained and flew missions with the 8th Air Force. He underwent a week-long extensive training course in February 1943, but was one of the two journalists who did not fly on the bombing raid on 26 February 1943 over Wilhelmshaven. Robert Post, another member of the Writing 69th was killed in action on the Wilhelmshaven raid, and it was decided that journalists would not fly further missions with the 8th Air Force. Nevertheless, Manning accompanied bomber crews on several missions after February 1943 including the mission over Gdynia on 9 October 1943.
Between missions Manning would broadcast CBS Radio from London and reported on Germany's surrender on VE-Day. He transferred to the Pacific Theatre and trained as a gunner aboard B-29s in order to once again accompany bomber crews, he broadcast the Japanese surrender from aboard USS Missouri.
Following the War Manning wrote articles for the New York Times and became a speech writer for Nelson Rockefeller. He turned his hand to historical writing, publishing books on Hirohito and infamously claiming that Hitler's secretary and Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann had faked his death and was pulling the strings in the Post War West German Government. Whilst Manning's wild claims in 'Martin Bormann- Nazi in Exile' led to his marginalisation and even the murder of his son, he wrote a vivid account of flying bombing missions over Germany:
“We lifted up, off the airfields of East Anglia, in the early morning, 200 B-17’s climbing and gathering into close formation over the North Sea. At 12,000 feet the crew clipped on oxygen masks, fired test bursts from their Brownings, and then headed for Germany and the target, which on that day was the harbor of Gdynia, Poland. Here the Gneisenau and the Stuttgart, two German battleships, 17 U-boats, destroyers, and several smaller vessels were at anchor. It was to be a 2,000-mile round-trip flight, right across Germany, and as we crossed the coastline at daybreak the German fighters began picking us up. It was a running battle all the way to Gdynia, then ‘bombs away,’ and the swing around for a return. Some of the B-17’s limped on to Switzerland with engine malfunctions; others crossed the Baltic for safe haven in Sweden. At 20,000 feet over Poland the sea seemed a toy pond, and Sweden beckoned invitingly. Leningrad was but 400 miles to the east, but the pilot had home on his mind. The formation closed for the self-protection of crossfire and we headed for England. Here is a quote from the story I wrote on my return, which I broadcast over CBS.”
“Across western Germany, you could feel the big ship wobbling badly. It had taken too much flak, too much cannon fire. The holes in the fuselage ripped larger. We couldn’t keep up with the other planes and our pilot dropped lower with each mile until we were hedge-hopping 30 feet off the ground, which kept the fighters from coming up from underneath. We passed so low over a German gun emplacement in Holland I could see the sweat on the backs of the German gunners on this sunny day, trying to bring us down. Bill laid one burst right down the middle of a pathway leading to a pillbox. His shells tore a gunner apart.”
“We prayed that the gas would hold out. Suddenly it became necessary to lighten the load as we began crossing the North Sea. The fighters had turned away and then we were skimming low over the water. Everything moveable went overboard: machine guns, radio, empty shell cases, oxygen tanks. We made it. The captain pulled the shattered craft up over English cliffland and skidded the length of an RAF runway to a halt. All of us were still for maybe four minutes, exhausted and drained. Bill the bombardier sank down to the floor of the plane with his head between his arms. The navigator fumbled abstractedly with his maps, folding and refolding them. I just sat, thinking: ‘I’m alive.’ Five of the crewmen would never again have that or any other feeling. They had died on the way back, one with his head shot off. Fourteen hours of hell on the air.”
Connections
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Units served with

- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Other
People

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 303rd Bomb Group 360th Bomb Squadron The Writing 69th
- Role/Job: War Correspondent

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 303rd Bomb Group 427th Bomb Squadron The Writing 69th
- Role/Job: War Correspondent United Press

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Civilian
- Nationality: American
- Unit: The Writing 69th
- Role/Job: War Correspondent
![Captain Bernard Thompson of the 387th Bomb Group and War Correspondent Gladwin Hill of the Associated Press, in the cockpit of a B-26 Marauder. Image stamped on reverse: 'Associated Press.' [stamp], 'Passed for publication 8 May 1944.' [stamp] and '319310.' [censor no.] Printed caption on reverse: 'AP War Correspondent Pays A Visit To A Marauder Base "Somewhere In England". Associated Press Photo Shows:- Left, Gladwyn Hill, A.P. War Correspondent sits in the cockpit of a Marauder, right pilot Capt. Bernar](https://assets.americanairmuseum.com/s3fs-public/styles/max_650x650/public/freeman/media-457859.jpg?itok=np92iV0D)
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: The Writing 69th
- Role/Job: War Correspondent

- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: The Writing 69th
- Role/Job: War Correspondent
Missions

- Date: 9 October 1943
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Died |
|||
Other Based |
London, UK | Broadcasting CBS Radio | |
Other Transferred |
Pacific Theatre of Operations | Trained as a B-29 Gunner to fly missions with bomber crews |
Revisions
Added connections to all the members of "the Writing 69th".
Biography of Paul Manning by political researcher and radio host Dave Emory.
Manning, 'Martin Bormann- Nazi in Exile' pp. 110-112
The Writing 69th Biographies