Richard Minifie

Richard Pearman Minifie, (2 February 1898 – 31 March 1969) was an Australian fighter pilot and flying ace of the First World War. Born in Victoria, he attended Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. Travelling to the United Kingdom, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service in June 1916. Accepted for flight training, he completed his instruction in December and joined No. 1 (Naval) Squadron RNAS on the Western Front in January 1917, flying Sopwith Triplanes. He went on to score seventeen aerial victories on this type of machine throughout the year, becoming both the youngest Australian flying ace of the First World War and No. 1 (Naval) Squadron's highest-scoring ace on the Triplane. The unit re-equipped with the Sopwith Camel late in 1917, with Minifie going on to achieve a further four victories on the aircraft, raising his final tally to a score of twenty-one aircraft shot down.

Minifie crash-landed in German-held territory in March 1918, and spent the remainder of the war in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany. He was released at the end of the war, and was demobilised as a captain in September 1919. Returning to Australia, he joined the staff of his father's flour milling business, James Minifie & Co. Pty Ltd. He served as a squadron leader in the Air Training Corps of the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War. Minifie returned to the flour milling industry after the war, becoming managing director of James Minifie & Co. Pty Ltd in 1949. He died in 1969 at the age of seventy-one.

Early life Richard Pearman Minife was born in Alphington, Victoria, on 2 February 1898 to Englishman James Minifie, a flour miller, and his Australian wife Beatrice Kate (née Earle). In his youth, Minifie attended Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, becoming a prefect in 1915 and being appointed a lieutenant in the school Cadet unit. Completing his secondary studies later that year, Minifie won a scholarship to Trinity College at the University of Melbourne.

First World War By 1916, Minifie was residing in Elsternwick, Victoria. That year, he decided to postpone his studies and travelled to the United Kingdom where he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service at Crystal Palace, London on 11 June. Accepted for flight training with the rank of probationary flight sub-lieutenant, he spent the following six months at naval establishments in Eastbourne, Cranwell, East Fortune and Dover earning his wings. Granted the substantive rank of flight sub-lieutenant in October, he was posted to No. 1 Wing RNAS on graduating as a pilot in October. In early 1917, he was allotted to the Wing's No. 1 (Naval) Squadron in France, flying Sopwith Triplanes, an aircraft in which he was to score heavily. He was promoted to acting flight lieutenant in July, taking part in the Passchendaele offensive later that month. Ten days later, he executed a raid on two German aerodromes. Flying at a height of , he fired approximated 450 rounds of ammunition into the hangars. Cited for his efforts in bringing down several German aircraft and his assaults on ground targets between April and September, Minifie was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The notice for the decoration was promulgated in a supplement to the London Gazette on 2 November 1917.

On returning to the Western Front, Minifie went on to score an additional four aerial victories on the Sopwith Camel. In March 1918, he was promoted to acting flight commander. Later that month, he acted as No. 1 Squadron's commanding officer during the transition of command from Dallas to Lieutenant Commander Charles Dawson Booker. These two scout planes were to be Minifie's final victories of the war, raising his ultimate tally to twenty-one aircraft shot down and making him the seventh highest-scoring Australian ace of the conflict. His aerial achievements were composed of ten and one shared aircraft destroyed, eight and one shared out of control, and one captured. He was subsequently captured by German forces at Roulers, and taken as a prisoner of war; he spent the remainder of the war at prison camps in Karlsruhe and Clausthal, Germany.

Post-war career and later life Back in Australia, Minifie took up his scholarship, studying mathematics and science at the University of Melbourne. However, he soon withdrew from the course, Returning to the flour milling business after the war, he was appointed president of the Victorian Flour Millers' Association in 1948. The following year, Minifie was made managing director of James Minifie & Co. Pty Ltd and its associated companies, in addition to being selected as president of the Federal Council of Flour Millowners of Australia and the flour millowners' representative on the Australian Wheat Board. He relinquished these positions upon his retirement in 1966. Richard Minifie died on 31 March 1969 and was cremated. He was survived by his wife, son and three daughters.