Harold Alan Hamersley MC (6 February 1896 – December 1967) was an Australian World War I flying ace credited with 13 confirmed aerial victories. He later went on to serve in the Royal Air Force following the war, serving in India and reaching the rank of

group captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

before retiring.

World War I service

Hamersely was born on 6 February 1896 in Guildford, Western Australia. His father was Hugh Hamersley. Following the outbreak of World War I, Hamersley volunteered for overseas service, joining the Australian Imperial Force on 18 February 1915. Listing his occupation as a farmer, upon enlistment he was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

and assigned to the

16th Battalion 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

, with whom he embarked as part of the 5th Reinforcements to leave

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

on board HMAT ''Hororata'' on 26 April 1915. He fought with the battalion in the Gallipoli Campaign and suffered a bullet wound to his right thigh in August and was evacuated to Cairo. He returned to his unit in October and remained at the front until November when he contracted influenza and was evacuated to Mudros. He returned to Gallipoli just in time to participate in the evacuation and disembarked in Alexandria in January 1916. In March 1916 he was transferred to the

48th Battalion 48th Battalion or 48th Infantry Battalion may refer to: * 48th Battalion (Australia), a unit of the Australian Army * 2/48th Battalion (Australia), a unit of the Australian Army that served during World War II * 48th Battalion (British Columbia), ...

as part of the expansion of the AIF that occurred at that time. Later that month he was promoted to lieutenant and in June 1916 was transferred to France along with the rest of his battalion, to take part in the fighting in the trenches of the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

. In August he was temporarily seconded to the headquarters staff of the 4th Division, with the acting rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In November 1916 he was transferred to the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

and struck off the AIF's strength. After attending the 2nd Royal Flying Corps School of Instruction, he was subsequently posted to No. 60 Squadron on the

to pilot a

Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5 The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 is a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. It was developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory by a team consisting of Henry Folland, John Kenworthy and Major Frank Goodden. It was one of the fast ...

a in September 1917. On the 16th, he promptly scored his first victory, destroying an Albatros D.III. On the 22nd, he shared a victory as he helped Captain

Robert L. Chidlaw-Roberts Flight Lieutenant Robert Leslie Chidlaw-Roberts (9 May 1896 – 1 June 1989) was a British World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. During his aerial combat career, and in different dogfights, he engaged two famous German aces ...

become an ace by driving down an Albatros D.III out of control. The following day, Hamersley almost became Werner Voss's 49th victim; Voss shot up his SE.5a before being shot down and killed by a patrol from 56 Squadron. Hamersley survived unhurt. He continued to score; on 18 November, he scored his sixth and last win for 1917, again teaming with Chidlaw-Roberts as they destroyed a DFW reconnaissance plane. Hamersley started again on 25 January 1918, destroying an

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

. After a couple more wins, on 30 March he destroyed an

LVG Luftverkehrsgesellschaft m.b.H. (L.V.G. or LVG) was a German aircraft manufacturer based in Berlin- Johannisthal, which began constructing aircraft in 1912, building Farman-type aircraft. The company constructed many reconnaissance and light bombe ...

recce craft and an Albatros D.V and drove down another D.V for a triple win. This rounded off his record at 10 German planes destroyed and three driven down out of control. He returned to England in May 1918 as a captain awarded a Military Cross.

Post World War I

In 1920–1922, Hamersley was once again assigned to 60 Squadron, although by then it was stationed in India. He then became the

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

test pilot for a while; it was during this time that he set an altitude record in an aircraft powered by an Austin 7 motor. On 1 January 1926, he was granted a permanent commission as a

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

. He was promoted to squadron leader on 1 April 1935; four months later, he was selected for an engineering assignment at

RAF Worthy Down RAF Worthy Down was a Royal Air Force station built in 1918, north of Winchester, Hampshire, England. After it was transferred to Royal Navy control in 1939 as RNAS Worthy Down (HMS Kestrel), the airfield remained in use throughout the Second Wo ...

. On 1 July 1938, he was promoted to wing commander. That same year, he was named Officer Commanding of the University of London Air Squadron. He moved on to command RAF Hullavington in 1940. On 1 December 1940, Hamersley was promoted to

. Later, he became president of the Air Crew Selection Board in Scotland before his retirement.

Honours and awards

Military Cross (MC)

Notes

References

*. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamersley, Harold A. 1896 births 1967 deaths Australian Army officers Australian military personnel of World War I Australian World War I flying aces Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Military personnel from Perth, Western Australia Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Air Force officers Royal Flying Corps officers Australian aviation record holders