Man whose family name inspired a James Bond villain has war service marked

A crowd gathered to remember the fallen.

A man whose family name inspired a James Bond villain has had his war service commemorated in Crawley Down.

A plaque was unveiled by the Crawley Down Memorial Society on the house James John Scaramanga grew up in to mark his time as a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps.

According to the society's Philip Coote, James’ uncle Ambrose Scaramanga went to school with Ian Fleming.

He said how the two did not get on, prompting Fleming to name the villain in his final novel, The Man With The Golden Gun, after him.

A remembrance service was held at the unveiling out of respect to the fallen.

Philip added: “We need to remember.

“Not to glorify war but to remember that these men sacrificed their lives.

“Hopefully we won’t ever have a war of that magnitude again.”

James was born on July 25 1898 in Redhill.

He was credited with 12 kills and is buried in the Aire Communal Cemetery.

He died 15 days before his 19th birthday on July 10 1917.

The Royal Flying Corps later merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force.