Alec Ogilvie

Last updated

Alec Ogilvie
Alec Ogilvie in 1919.jpg
Alec Ogilvie at his desk in 1919
Born(1882-06-08)8 June 1882
Marylebone, London, England
Died18 June 1962(1962-06-18) (aged 80)
Ringwood, Hampshire
AllegianceFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Service/branchNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy (1915–1918)
Royal Air Force (1918–1919)
Rank Wing Commander (RNAS)
Lieutenant-Colonel (RAF)
Unit Royal Naval Air Service
Battles/wars First World War
Awards Commander of the Order of the British Empire
RelationsWife Angela Le Cren, née Newbold (1886–1958) m. 1934

Sister in law Ethel Newbold

Brother in law Charles Joseph Newbold
Other workConsulting aeronautical engineer

For the businessman, see Alec Ogilvie (businessman).

Contents

Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander "Alec" Ogilvie CBE (8 June 1882 – 18 June 1962) was an early British aviation pioneer, a friend of the Wright Brothers and only the seventh British person to qualify as a pilot. During World War I Ogilvie served with the Royal Naval Air Service before transferring to the Royal Air Force on its creation in 1918. During the War he was chiefly employed in technical posts and after the War he worked as a consulting aeronautical engineer.

Early life

Alexander Ogilivie was born in 1882 in the Marylebone district of London. He was educated at Rugby School and Cambridge University. [1]

Early aviator

In 1908 Ogilvie watched Wilbur Wright carry out a demonstration flight in France and within two months he had ordered a Wright Biplane for himself. [2] Before the biplane was delivered in 1909 he practised flying at Friston, Sussex using a glider. Ogilvie established a flying base on Camber Sands near Rye, Sussex and took part in a number of aviation meetings around the country. [2] He joined the Royal Aero Club on 11 May 1909 [3] and gained only the seventh Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate on 24 May 1910. [2] [4] In 1910 using a Wright racing biplane he entered the Gordon Bennett competition at Belmont Park in New York, he was placed third in the competition (for which he was awarded the Silver medal of the Royal Aero Club [5] ) and brought the aircraft back to England. [2] The following year he had more success in that race, coming in fourth in his Wright at an average 55 mph. [6] In 1912, Ogilvie invented an airspeed indicator which was later adopted by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). [7] In 1911 he joined Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States during Wright's experiments with soaring making several flights. [2] He continued to use a Wright aircraft up to 1914 including in 1913 flying H. G. Wells as a passenger. [2]

First World War

On 19 February 1915 Ogilvie was commissioned as an RNAS officer in the rank of squadron commander. [8] Ogilvie initially was given responsibility for overseeing flying training at the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch. [7] On 5 April 1916 he took command of the aircraft repair depot at Dunkirk, and was promoted acting wing commander on 31 December 1916. [9] On 5 March 1917 he became a member of the Air Board, eventually serving as controller of the technical department. [2] [9] The rank of wing commander was confirmed on 30 June 1917. [9] In early 1918, Ogilvie reported on flight tests of the Sopwith Snipe, stating that "its flying qualities are bad"; however, he was overruled by Trenchard and Brooke-Popham and orders were placed. [10] On 1 April 1918, along with all other RNAS personnel, Ogilvie transferred to the newly established Royal Air Force in the rank of major (temporary lieutenant-colonel). [9] A note in his new RAF service record states, "[He has] flown most types of aircraft except single seaters." [9] He was injured in a flying accident on 8 June 1918. [9]

Post-war

Ogilvie resigned from the Air Board in 1919, being placed on the RAF unemployed list on 10 March. [7] [11] He then worked as a consulting aeronautical engineer under the name "Ogilvie and Partners", which in 1919 became the Limited company "Ogilvie and Partners Ltd.", of which he was "Permanent governing director and chairman". [12] He subsequently moved to Australia for some years.

Personal life

In September 1934 he married Angela Le Cren, née Newbold (1886–1958) in East Grinstead, Sussex. [13] Her sister was the statistician and epidemiologist Ethel Newbold and her brother was rugby player and chemist Charles Joseph Newbold. Ogilvie died, aged 80, on 18 June 1962 at his home in Ringwood, Hampshire. [7]

Honours and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Naval Air Service</span> Aerial warfare arm of the British Royal Navy (1914-18)

The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form the Royal Air Force (RAF), the world's first independent air force.

Squadron Commander Christopher Draper, was an English flying ace of World War I. His penchant for flying under bridges earned him the nickname "the Mad Major". After the war he became a film star through his work both as a stunt pilot and as an actor. During the 1930s he worked for a time as a British secret agent, serving as a double agent to Nazi Germany. He returned to the Navy in World War II. During his flying career he logged over 17,000 flying hours on 73 types of aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Leckie (RCAF officer)</span> Canadian air officer

Air Marshal Robert Leckie, was an air officer in the Royal Air Force and later in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and served as Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1944 to 1947. He initially served in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, where he became known as one of "the Zeppelin killers from Canada", after shooting down two airships. During the inter-war period he served as a Royal Air Force squadron and station commander, eventually becoming the RAF's Director of Training in 1935, and was Air Officer Commanding RAF Mediterranean from 1938 until after the beginning of the Second World War. In 1940 he returned to Canada where he was primarily responsible for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, transferring to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942.

No. 204 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit first formed in March 1915 as No.4 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service.

Captain William Melville Alexander was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 22 aerial victories.

Royal Air Force Eastchurch or more simply RAF Eastchurch is a former Royal Air Force station near Eastchurch village, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England. The history of aviation at Eastchurch stretches back to the first decade of the 20th century when it was used as an airfield by members of the Royal Aero Club. The area saw the first flight by a British pilot in Britain.

Leonard Henry Rochford, was a British flying ace of the First World War, credited with 29 aerial victories. He returned to military service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Wing Commander Robert John Orton Compston DSC & 2 Bars DFC was an English fighter pilot credited with 25 victories during World War I. He was one of only seven airman in this war who won three awards of the Distinguished Service Cross.

Flight Lieutenant Cyril Burfield Ridley was a British World War I flying ace, who served in the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force, before being killed in a flying accident in 1920.

Flight Commander Frederick Carr Armstrong was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 13 aerial victories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George M. Cox</span> British WW1 flying ace

George Montague Cox MBE, MC, AFC, Order of the Crown (Belgium) was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruno De Roeper</span> British World War I flying ace

Group Captain Bruno Philip Henry de Roeper, (1892–1965) was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories, who went on to serve during World War II.

Herbert Gardner Travers, was a British flying ace of the First World War, credited with five aerial victories. He later worked in civil aviation and returned to service during the Second World War.

Wing Commander (rank) Noel Keeble was a British flying ace of the First World War, credited with six aerial victories.

Captain Thomas Frederick Le Mesurier DSC & Two Bars was a British flying ace of the First World War credited with seven aerial victories. Le Mesurier was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) and Two Bars for his conspicuous service in bombing operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Saint</span> British flying ace

Captain Howard John Thomas Saint was a Welsh First World War flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. He became the chief test pilot for the Gloster Aircraft Company in the 1930s.

Captain John Ellis Langford Hunter was a British World War I flying ace credited with 13 confirmed aerial victories.

Major Thomas Francis Netterville Gerrard was a British World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. He died following a post-war equestrian accident.

Flight Lieutenant Desmond Fitzgerald Fitzgibbon was a British flying ace who served in the Royal Naval Air Service during World War I, and was credited with eight aerial victories. He returned to serve in the RAF for a few years in the early 1920s, and again during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pruett Mullens Dennett</span> British World War I flying ace

Lieutenant Pruett Mullens Dennett was a World War I British flying ace. He was credited with ten aerial victories, the last occurring on the day he was killed in combat.

References

  1. Turner, Charles Cyril (1927). The Old Flying Days. Ayer Publishing. p. 85. ISBN   0-405-03783-X.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Lieut.-Col. Alec Ogilvie Aviation Pioneer". The Times. No. 55243. London. 21 June 1962. col A, p. 15.
  3. "Aero Club of the United Kingdom: Official Notices to Members". Flight Magazine . 1 (20): 276. 15 May 1909. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  4. Flight 28 May 1910
  5. "Awards & Trophies: Silver Medal of the Royal Aero Club". Royal Aero Club. 2009. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  6. Jane, Fred T. (1969). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1913. London: David & Charles. p. 8d. ISBN   978-0-7153-4388-3.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "World News: Alec Ogilvie". Flight Magazine . 81 (2781): 994–995. 28 June 1962. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  8. "No. 29086". The London Gazette . 2 March 1915. p. 2092.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "RAF officers' service records 1918 – 1919—Ogilvie, Alexander". DocumentsOnline. The National Archives.
  10. "CSM 1/48 Sopwith Snipe".
  11. "No. 31264". The London Gazette . 1 April 1919. pp. 4224–4225.
  12. "New Companies Registered". Flight Magazine. IX (41): 1356. 9 October 1919. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  13. "FreeBMD marriage record". 1934.
  14. "No. 30066". The London Gazette (4th supplement). 12 May 1917. p. 4627.
  15. "No. 30460". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 7 January 1918. pp. 373–383.
  16. "No. 31098". The London Gazette (7th supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 92.