Career
Born in Northampton on 11 June 1914, Mann joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in Reading in 1938. As a Sergeant Pilot (Service Number 127025) he was posted to Number. 64 Squadron Royal Air Force in July 1940 flying the Spitfire.
Mann was shot down by Royal Navy Associate of Arts fire on 16 August.
He was then posted to Number 92 Squadron Royal Air Force in late August, and was wounded in action on 14 September. Serving with Number.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 or Leut. Robert Menge of JG 26.
Awarded a DFM, he underwent plastic surgery at East Grinstead Hospital.
When fit he joined 1 ADF at Hendon, 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.
Jackie also ran the Pickwick public when he retired.
Sunnie ran a successful horse riding school. The group demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners it claimed were being held in Britain, accused of killing Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1987.
In fact, no-one linked to the murder was being held by United Kingdom 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 in February of that year.
Jackie Mann was eventually released on 24 September 1991 after negotiations by the British and United States governments succeeded in bringing about the release of several Western hostages. He had spent time with other United Kingdom and Irish hostages, notably journalist John McCarthy, church envoy Terry Waite and author Brian Keenan. 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, in the capital Nicosia. He was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 in Nicosia on 12 November 1995.
He was 81 years old.
