James Scaramanga

Lieutenant James John Scaramanga (25 July 1898 – 10 July 1918) was a First World War British ace credited with twelve aerial victories. He scored his last victory after he had already received the wound which would soon prove fatal. The observer ace hailed from a wealthy Greek family with a connection to James Bond series author Ian Fleming.

Background James John Scaramanga, son of John George Scaramanga and his wife Louisa Yeames Scaramanga, was born on 25 July 1898 in Reigate, Surrey. Some sources give an alternate place of birth, Redhill, Surrey. By 1901, he was living at Tiltwood House in Worth, West Sussex, with his extended family, including his paternal grandmother, Elizabeth 'Eliza' Franghiadi Scaramanga. His grandmother died in 1933, and the estate passed on to James's uncle Ambrose Scaramanga. James's first cousin George Ambrose Scaramanga (1911–1988) is alleged to be the inspiration for the choice of name for the Scaramanga villain in Ian Fleming's The Man with the Golden Gun, published posthumously. Fleming and George Ambrose Scaramanga had been schoolmates at Eton College in the 1920s and had apparently had a falling out; Fleming later used Scaramanga's name for his villain as a way of taking revenge.

Military career Scaramanga first flew in F.E.2 aircraft with No. 20 Squadron. James Scaramanga was credited with all his victories while flying in a Bristol F.2b. James Scaramanga was posted to the No. 20 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps on 28 December 1916, as an observer, with the rank of second lieutenant effective the following day.

However, on 11 April 1918, both he and his pilot Canadian Major J. A. Dennistoun were seriously wounded. They were forced to land near Neuve-Église, Bas-Rhin, France under machine-gun ground fire, and Bristol (B1275) was destroyed. Lieutenant Scaramanga was posted to the No. 22 Squadron of the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918, after he had recovered. All of his remaining victories (3 through 12) were with Lieutenant John Gurdon as his pilot. Also, his next seven victories (3 through 9) were all from Bristol F.2b (C989). On 19 June 1918, Lieutenant James Scaramanga scored a triple, taking out three Fokker D.VII aircraft southeast of Armentières, Nord, France. Two were destroyed, and a third sent out of control. On 27 June 1918, he sent a Fokker Dr.I out of control, again southeast of Armentières, his sixth victory. Scaramanga was interred at Aire Communal Cemetery in Aire-sur-la-Lys, Pas-de-Calais, France. His grave reference number is III. H. 25. He is also commemorated on the Crawley Down War Memorial in Crawley Down, Worth, Sussex. The monument is located at the junction of Vicarage Road and Sandy Lane, down the road from the Church of All Saints. While the memorial does not list the names of the fallen, there is a roll of honour which lists those names at the church.

Gallery of aircraft downed