WWI & IRAQ M.I.D. GROUP OF 3 MEDALS TO GRP. CAPT. J.A.W. BINNIE, R.A.F. (9 KILL ACE)

M.I.D. Gazetted 28 Oct 1921.

Legion of Merit Legionnaire Gazetted 11 Oct 1946.

James Alexander Weatherhead Binnie was born on 25 June 1894 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, the son of David Dreghorn Binnie and Barbara Manson Eadie. Initially serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 5th (City of Glasgow) Battalion Highland Light Infantry, Binnie transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, receiving his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 4234 on the Caudron biplane at Cheltenham Flying School on 16 Feb 1917.

Posted to 48 Squadron, Binnie was flying a Bristol Fighter on 11 May 1917 when he encountered Jasta 11. Fellow officers, William Otto Brash Winkler and Ernest Stanley Moore were shot down by Lothar von Richthofen and taken prisoner. Binnie's aircraft was shot up, wounding his observer. Binnie survived the encounter and went on to score 9 victories over the summer of 1917:

15 June 1917 1940hrs  - Albatross DIII – Out of Control

15 June 1917 2020hrs – Albatross DIII – Destroyed

13 July 1917 0940hrs – Albatross DV – Destroyed

28 July 1917 0815hrs – Albatross DV – Destroyed

19 Aug 1917 0650hrs – Albatross DV – Out of Control

22 Aug 1917 0900hrs – Albatross DV – Destroyed

26 Aug 1917 0830hrs – Albatross DV – Destroyed

26 Aug 1917 0830hrs – Albatross DV – Out of Control

11 Sep 1917 1015hrs – DFW.C – Out of Control

His first 8 victories were with Corporal Valentine Reed as observer and his final victory was with ace observer Lieutenant Thomas Cecil Silwood Tuffield. After the war, Binnie married Mary Florita Charteris Ramsay in 1924 and was posted to HQ Fleet Air Arm Flights aboard aircraft carrier, HMS Eagle on 15 Aug 1930. Binnie was then appointed to the Air Ministry Staff of Directorate of Training, Department of the Air Member for Personnel from 27 Nov 1936 to Dec 1939 when he became Deputy Director of Air Raid Precautions and Fire Services in the Air Ministry’s Department of the Air Member for Supply and Organisation, holding this post until retirement as a Group Captain on 19 Apr 1946, awarded the Legionnaire Legion of Merit conferred by the U.S. President, Harry S. Truman on 11 Oct 1946. Binnie died in Didcot, Oxfordshire in 1962, aged 67 and is buried in St. Peter’s Churchyard.