2d Lt Walter Peyton Manning
May 3, 1920 – April 1, 1945
Class 44-D-SE
Graduation Date: April 15, 1944
Unit: 332nd Fighter Group, 301st Fighter Squadron
Walter Peyton Manning was an American fighter pilot of the primarily African American Tuskegee Airmen. He flew 50 missions, and was awarded the Air Medal for heroism six times. After being shot down in 1945, he was captured in Austria and subsequently lynched. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 along with all other Tuskegee Airmen. Manning is the only known black man to have been lynched in Austria during World War II.
In 1942, Manning was rejected for military service because of a hammer toe. Manning used his savings to pay for surgery to repair his toe so that he could enlist. In 1943 he enlisted in the Army Air Force. In 1944, after graduating from the Tuskegee Institute, he was assigned to the 301st Fighter Squadron, 332nd fighter Group with the rank of 2nd lieutenant. He served as a pilot from Ramitelli Air Base, Italy.
Manning was involved in a dogfight with German planes on Easter morning, April 1, 1945, over the Danube river in Austria. The Tuskegee Airmen were escorting B-24 bombers on a bombing mission to the town of St. Polten, Austria. On the return trip to their base at Ramitelli Air Field in Italy, the group spotted enemy planes near Wels, Austria. There were seven Tuskegee Airmen flying the mission that day who engaged the German planes. The American pilots shot down 12 German planes in the dogfight. However, three of the Tuskegee Airmen’s planes were shot down in return: one pilot was able to crash-land in friendly territory, one was killed outright when he was shot down, and the third pilot was Manning; his plane was damaged so badly that he had to bail out.
Manning was captured and jailed in Austria at a Luftwaffe base near Linz. During the early morning hours of April 3, 1945 (3:30AM) two Luftwaffe officers presented forged orders to the jailer at the Horsching Air Base where Manning was detained, ordering Manning’s release into their custody. The jailer released Manning, as stated in the orders. The next morning Manning was found hanging from a nearby light pole.
American soldiers discovered his body in a shallow grave near the air base. A civilian had marked the spot with a wooden cross. Although they found clear signs of murder, US officials closed his case early. Suspects were identified, including two German officers believed to be part of the Werwolf guerrilla group. However, nobody was prosecuted.
In 2013, the Austrian historians Nicole-Melanie Goll and Georg Hoffmann carried out a research project together with Jerry Whiting to examine the fates of downed Allied airmen, including Manning. Together they created a database of the 9,000 Allied pilots killed or shot down over Austria. The historians discovered that 150 Allied pilots, 101 of them American, were murdered on the ground, most by civilians. While white airmen were either shot or beaten to death, Manning was hanged. As a result of their findings, the Austrian Army raised a commemoration plaque at the place where Manning was murdered.
Manning is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in France. According to a government database, he was awarded an Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters and a Purple Heart for his military service.
Tuskegee Airman Walter Manning, center, with several other pilots looking over model P51 Mustangs in Alabama
Web update, December 14, 2021
Thank you to Jerry Whiting, along with Austrians Georg Hoffman and Nicole Goll, for bringing factual information of the event referring to “the mob” waiting to take Lt. Manning from the jail in Horsching. There was no mob involved. It occurred in the late night/early morning hours and it’s likely there were only two men involved, both Luftwaffe officers with false papers. For years they investigated this case, trying to find the men if they were still alive, unsuccessfully. At this point in the war many of the air force groups had political officers, who were not pilots. Their role was to incite the men to keep the war going and to persuade the men to keep fighting.
Here is the information clarified that is often misrepresented:
- After completion of their escort mission, several members of the 301st Squadron received permission to separate from the group and search for “targets of opportunity” along the Danube River. Their escort mission was completed.
- During the early morning hours of April 3, 1945 (3:30AM) two Luftwaffe officers presented forged orders to the jailer at the Horsching Air Base where Manning was detained, ordering Manning’s release into their custody. The jailer released Manning, as stated in the orders. The next morning Manning was found hanging from a nearby light pole.
- There is no evidence that Manning was “delivered to a crowd”. This was during the early morning hours. In the factual evidence, the two Luftwaffe officers were named. The available evidence suggests that these officers were not pilots, but political officers assigned to the group. From all of the interviews conducted at the time, there is no evidence that there was a “mob” or any other observers.
- Within just days after Manning’s death the 27th Fighter Wing was disbanded, with many of its ranks being sent to the Russian Front in the final days of the war. The case was closed in mid-1947, a year and a half after it had begun, without the two known perpetrators having been found. It’s unknown if they survived the war. Many similar cases were closed about this time.
Sources:
Inquirer.com
Saint Louis Post-Dispatch
Wikipedia
