Buried at Reading England Name James Hargreaves Allegiance United Kingdom Died 1883 | Rank Sergeant Service/branch British Army Service number 1232 | |
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Born 19 January 1883 ( 1883-01-19 ) Battles and wars World War I, Western Front | ||
Sergeant James McKinley Hargreaves was a Scottish World War I flying ace. Despite being an observer, he became one of the first flying aces in history while flying with Lionel Rees, .
Military service
Hargreaves joined the Royal Flying Corps in early 1913, aged 30, receiving service number 1232.
He was assigned No. 11 Squadron, the first British flying squadron to be equipped with a purpose-built fighter aircraft, the pusher Vickers Gunbus. The squadron arrived in France on 25 July 1915, at approximately the time Adolphe Pegoud became the first ace in history. Three days later, Hargreaves scored his first aerial victory while teamed with Rees in Gunbus Serial No. 1649, driving a Fokker Eindekker down out of control. On 31 August, they destroyed an LVG two-seater reconnaissance plane. Hargreaves' third victory came on 21 September, when he drove down an AGO reconnaissance aircraft over Herbecourt. The next day, he repeated the feat, driving down an Albatros two-seater south-east of Albert. On the 30th, they forced down another Albatros, this one from the German artillery cooperation squadron, Feld-Flieger-Abteilung 23. The dying crew crash-landed behind British lines, and the aircraft was captured.
Hargreaves was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his valour, his citation reading:
1232 Flight-Serjeant J. Hargreaves, No. 11 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.Rees received the Military Cross.
Hargreaves then trained a pilot, being granted Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 1887 after soloing in a Maurice Farman biplane at the British Flying School at Le Crotoy, France on 13 October 1915.