14 Facts About Alec Ogilvie

Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Ogilvie CBE was an early British aviation pioneer, a friend of the Wright Brothers and only the seventh British person to qualify as a pilot.

Alec Ogilvie was educated at Rugby School and Cambridge University.

In 1908 Alec Ogilvie watched Wilbur Wright carry out a demonstration flight in France and within two months he had ordered a Wright Biplane for himself.

Alec Ogilvie established a flying base on Camber Sands near Rye, Sussex and took part in a number of aviation meetings around the country.

Alec Ogilvie 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 1912, Alec Ogilvie invented an airspeed indicator which was later adopted by the Royal Naval Air Service.

Alec Ogilvie continued to use a Wright aircraft up to 1914 including in 1913 flying H G Wells as a passenger.

On 19 February 1915 Alec Ogilvie was commissioned as an RNAS officer in the rank of squadron commander.

Alec Ogilvie initially was given responsibility for overseeing flying training at the Naval Flying School, Eastchurch.

In early 1918, Alec 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.

On 1 April 1918, along with all other RNAS personnel, Alec Ogilvie transferred to the newly established Royal Air Force in the rank of major.

Alec Ogilvie resigned from the Air Board in 1919, being placed on the RAF unemployed list on 10 March.

Alec Ogilvie's sister was the statistician and epidemiologist Ethel Newbold and her brother was rugby player and chemist Charles Joseph Newbold.

Alec Ogilvie died, aged 80, on 18 June 1962 at his home in Ringwood, Hampshire.