Jackie Mann
Encyclopedia
Jackie Mann DFM was a British former RAF fighter pilot in the "Battle of Britain", who in later life was kidnapped by Islamic Jihadist terrorists in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 in May 1989, and held hostage for more than two years.

Early life

Born in Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...

 on 11 June 1914, Mann joined the RAFVR in Reading in 1938. As a Sergeant Pilot
Sergeant Pilot
A Sergeant Pilot was a non-commissioned officer who had undergone flight training and was a qualified pilot in the air forces of several Commonwealth countries and in the United States Army Air Force before, during and after World War II where they were called Flying Sergeants...

 (Service No 127025) he was posted to No. 64 Squadron RAF
No. 64 Squadron RAF
No. 64 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was first formed on 1 August 1916 as a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. It was last disbanded on 31 January 1991 at RAF Leuchars.- 1916 to 1919 :...

 in July 1940 flying the Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

. Mann was shot down by Royal Navy AA fire on 16 August. He was then posted to No 92 Squadron RAF in late August, and was wounded in action on 14 September. Serving with No.91 Squadron later in 1941, on 4 April Mann was again shot down and wounded, being badly burned. His victor was either Oberst Adolf Galland
Adolf Galland
Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland was a German Luftwaffe General and flying ace who served throughout World War II in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western and the Defence of the Reich fronts...

 or Leut. Robert Menge of JG 26. Awarded a DFM, he underwent plastic surgery at East Grinstead
East Grinstead
East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...

 Hospital. He met his wife Sunnie in wartime London when Sunnie was an ambulance driver and Jackie was recovering from his severe burns.

When fit he joined 1 ADF at Hendon
Hendon
Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...

, and then served with Ferry Command over the North Atlantic routes. His final fighter score was 5 destroyed, 1 probable, and 3 damaged. He was later promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...

.

After the war Mann served as Chief Pilot with Middle East Airlines
Middle East Airlines
Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L. , more commonly known as Middle East Airlines , is the national flag-carrier airline of Lebanon, with its head office in Beirut, near Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport...

, Mann and his wife Sunnie moving to Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 where they subsequently lived for over 40 years. Jackie also ran the Pickwick pub when he retired. Sunnie ran a successful horse riding school.

Kidnap

On 13 May 1989, Mann was kidnapped in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

 by Khalaya al-Kifah al-Musallah or "Armed Struggle Cells", a previously unknown terrorist group linked to the pro-Iranian
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 Shi'ite Muslim militant organisation, Hezbollah.

The group demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners it claimed were being held in Britain and who were accused of killing Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali
Naji al-Ali
Naji Salim al-Ali was a Palestinian cartoonist, noted for the political criticism of Israel in his works.He drew over 40,000 cartoons, which often reflected Palestinian and Arab public opinion and were sharply critical commentaries on Palestinian and Arab politics and political leaders...

 in 1987. No-one linked to the murder was being held by UK authorities.

The British embassy had warned three days before Mann was seized that a Shi'a group was preparing to take another Western hostage. The Foreign Office and British embassy in Lebanon had renewed warnings to British citizens still living in Beirut to leave immediately following the Salman Rushdie affair
The Satanic Verses controversy
The Satanic Verses controversy was the heated and sometimes violent Muslim reaction to the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie...

 in February of that year.

Release

Jackie Mann was eventually released on September 24, 1991 after negotiations by the British and US governments succeeded in bringing about the release of several Western hostages. He had spent time with other UK and Irish hostages, notably journalist John McCarthy
John McCarthy (journalist)
John Patrick McCarthy CBE is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster, and one of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis...

, church envoy Terry Waite
Terry Waite
Terry Waite CBE is an English humanitarian and author.Waite was Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie's Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of England, he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages including journalist John...

 and author Brian Keenan.

On his release, he was taken firstly to Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, where he was reunited with his wife, and then flown by VC10 to RAF Lyneham
RAF Lyneham
RAF Lyneham is a Royal Air Force station in Wiltshire, England. It was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force before they were relocated to RAF Brize Norton.The station was also home to No...

 in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, and spent some time recuperating and debriefing in the Officers' Mess, before returning to normal life.
His health suffered greatly during captivity and he never really recovered. He had been kept for prolonged periods in solitary confinement, sometimes in chains. He lost over 18 kilograms in weight and suffered from heart and lung problems. He also suffered from a skin problem which required medication after being badly burnt when he was shot down as a pilot.

After his release, Jackie and Sunnie Mann settled in Greek Southern Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, in the capital Nicosia. He was awarded a CBE in late 1991.

The couple wrote a book in 1992 called Yours Till The End: Harrowing Life of a Beirut Hostage. Sunnie also wrote Holding On in 1991.

Sunnie Mann died in November 1992 from lung cancer.

Jackie Mann died on 12 November 1995. He was 81 years old.

External links

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