<!-- This article is a part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Aircraft and Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Military. --> {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Use British English|date=January 2018}} {{Infobox military person | name = Reuben George Hammersley | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|9|26|df=yes}} | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->Unknown | birth_place = Leicester, England | death_place = | burial_label = | burial_place = | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army<br/>Royal Air Force | service_years = 1917–1919 | rank = Captain | unit = No. 24 Squadron RFC/RAF | commands = | battles = World War I<br/>{{*}}Western Front | awards = ''Croix de Guerre'' (France) | relations = | other_work = }} Captain '''Reuben George Hammersley''' (26 September 1897 – after 1940) was an English World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories.<ref name="theaerodrome">{{cite web |url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/hammersley.php |title=Reuben George Hammersley |work=The Aerodrome |year=2015 |accessdate=2 March 2015}}</ref>
==Biography== Hammersley was born in Leicester, and worked as a Boot factor in Measham before the war.<ref name="theaerodrome"/> He learned to fly, receiving Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 3556 on a Caudron biplane at Wallisdown School, Bournemouth, on 14 September 1916,<ref name="theaerodrome"/> then joined the Royal Flying Corps as a cadet, being commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant (on probation) on 3 May 1917,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=15 May 1917 |supp=y |issue=30074 |page=4785 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and was confirmed in his rank on 27 July.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=13 July 1917 |supp=y |issue=30185 |page=7103 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
He was posted to No. 24 Squadron in France, flying an S.E.5a. He gained his first victories on 19 February 1918, when he and Lieutenants Peter MacDougall, Ronald T. Mark and Andrew Cowper, shot down two aircraft over Servais and Bernot. Hammersley went on to account for six more enemy aircraft between 26 February and 20 May 1918, for a total of eight.<ref name="theaerodrome"/>
On 1 September 1918 he was appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=24 September 1918 |issue=30918 |page=11347 |nolink=yes}}</ref> and later the same month was awarded the ''Croix de guerre'' by France.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=20 September 1918 |supp=y |issue=30913 |page=11259 |nolink=yes}}</ref>
Hammersley left the RAF after the war, being transferred to the unemployed list on 25 January 1919.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31168 |date=7 February 1919 |page=1962 |nolink=yes }}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammersley, Reuben}} Category:1897 births Category:Year of death missing Category:Military personnel from Leicester Category:Royal Flying Corps officers Category:British World War I flying aces Category:British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) {{RAF-bio-stub}}