James Scaramanga
| James John Scaramanga | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 July 1898 Reigate, Surrey, England |
| Died | 10 July 1918 (aged 19) France |
| Buried | Aire Communal Cemetery Pas-de-Calais, France] |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army Royal Air Force
|
| Years of service | 1916–1918 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | No. 20 Squadron Royal Flying Corps, No. 22 Squadron RAF |
Lieutenant James John Scaramanga (25 July 1898 – 10 July 1918) was a First World War British flying 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.
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. Tiltwood House, a fifteen-bedroomed mansion on Tiltwood Estate, in Crawley Down, Worth, had been purchased and enlarged by his Greek grandfather George Emmanuel Scaramanga. By the time of his grandfather's death in 1897, Tiltwood Estate was nearly 500 acres. 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.
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. He initially flew in F.E.2's with No. 20 Squadron. In August 1917, his squadron was equipped with Bristol Fighters. Scaramanga was credited with twelve aerial victories, all from the Bristol F.2b. Lieutenant Scaramanga scored his first aerial victory on 9 March 1918 when he, with Lieutenant Douglas Graham Cooke piloting Bristol F2.b (C4605), sent an Albatros D.V out of control south of Comines, Nord, France. He racked up another victory four days later, on 13 March 1918. From Bristol F.2b (C4615), he and pilot Lieutenant Dennis Latimer sent a Pfalz D.III out of control over Comines-Wervicq.
...
Wikipedia