Australian Fighter Pilot and Flying Ace of the First World War. Son of James and Beatrice Kate (nee Earle) Minifie. He was educated at 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 he won a scholarship to Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. Postponing his studies, he travelled to the United Kingdom and enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service at Crystal Palace, London on 11 June 1916. He was accepted for flight training with the rank of probationary Flight Sub-Lieutenant and spent the following six months at naval establishments in Eastbourne, Cranwell, East Fortune and Dover earning his wings. In October he was posted to No. 1 Wing RNAS on graduating as a pilot . In early 1917 he was allotted to the Wing's No. 1 (Naval) Squadron in France flying Sopwith Triplanes. Throughout February and March 1917 No. 1 Squadron was in action along the Somme sector of the Western Front. During April the squadron maintained a high operational tempo with the launch of the Arras offensive. On 29 April he was credited with his first two aerial victories. Over the next two months he participated in ground-strafing missions on Bullecourt and during the Battle of Messines. He became an Ace during this period, now being credited with 6 victories. At 19 years of age he was the youngest Australian Ace of the First World War. He scored his seventh victory on 8 August having destroyed a German scout plane. Ten days later he executed a raid on two German aerodromes. Cited for his efforts in bringing down several German aircraft and his assaults on ground targets between April and September he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Between August and October 1917 he was credited with a further eleven German aircraft, bring his total to seventeen. On 30 November he was awarded a Bar to his DSC as a consequence of his "conspicuous gallantry in air fighting throughout October". On returning to the Western Front he went on to score an additional four aerial victories. In March 1918 he was promoted to acting Flight Commander. On 13 March he led a party of four aircraft out on a patrol. While airborne, the group intercepted a formation of five German scout planes. In the ensuring battle, Minifie personally destroyed two of the aircraft while a third was shot down by one of his men. 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. As a result of his gallantry while operating against hostile forces, particularly in the air battle of 13 March, Minifie was awarded a second Bar to his Distinguished Service Cross. After the war he took up his scholarship, studying mathematics and science at the University of Melbourne. He withdrew from the course and joined his father's flour milling business. He married Nellie Frances Roberts on 19 October 1921. On 17 June 1941, Minifie enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force for service in the Second World War, and was accepted as an officer with the Prahran Wing of the Air Training Corps. Promoted to flying officer and granted the acting rank of squadron leader on 23 August, he was appointed commander of No. 1 Squadron of No. 1 Cadet Wing. After the Second World War he returned to the flour milling business and was made Managing Director of James Minifie & Co. Pty Ltd and its associated companies. He died at the age of seventy-one and was cremated at the Springvale Botanical Crematorium.