Alec Ogilvie
| Alec Ogilvie | |
|---|---|
Alec Ogilvie at his desk in 1919
|
|
| Born |
8 June 1882 Marylebone, London, England |
| Died | 18 June 1962 (aged 80) Ringwood, Hampshire |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 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 |
| Other work | Consulting aeronautical engineer |
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.
Alexander Ogilivie was born in 1882 in the Marylebone district of London. He was educated at Rugby School and Cambridge University.
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. 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. He joined the Royal Aero Club on 11 May 1909 and gained only the seventh Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate on 24 May 1910. 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) and brought the aircraft back to England. The following year he had more success in that race, coming in fourth in his Wright at an average 55 mph. In 1912, Ogilvie invented an airspeed indicator which was later adopted by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In 1911 he joined Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States during Wright's experiments with soaring making several flights. He continued to use a Wright aircraft up to 1914 including in 1913 flying H.G. Wells as a passenger.
...
Wikipedia