Euan Rabagliati served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and is credited as being the first RFC pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft.
21 Facts About Euan Rabagliati
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Euan Rabagliati then attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as a gentlemen cadet, and after passing out was commissioned as a second lieutenant in The King's Own on 14 February 1912.
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Euan Rabagliati became interested in flying, and was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No 779 after soloing a Bristol biplane at the Bristol Flying School at Brooklands on 11 May 1914.
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Euan Rabagliati steered Wilson to a position ahead and below the Taube, then opened fire with his rifle.
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Euan Rabagliati fired around 100 rounds before the Taube pilot slumped forward into his seat and the aircraft descended to the ground and landed.
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Euan Rabagliati received his second mention in despatches on 5 April 1915, for "gallant and distinguished service in the field", and was appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on 19 April.
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Euan Rabagliati was promoted to captain in the KOYLI on 1 October 1915.
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On 1 May 1916 Euan Rabagliati was appointed a squadron commander with the acting rank of major, and served as commander of No 24 Squadron from 29 November 1916 until 22 March 1917.
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Euan Rabagliati received his third mention "for distinguished service in war areas" in January 1919.
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Euan Rabagliati resigned his commission on 6 August 1919, but was permitted to retain his rank.
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Euan Rabagliati had a parallel career as an amateur racing driver.
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Euan Rabagliati is said to have competed for the Eireann Cup in the 1st Irish Grand Prix, held at Phoenix Park on 13 July 1929.
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The next year, on 9 May 1930, Euan Rabagliati took part in the Double Twelve Hour Race at Brooklands, driving a Talbot AO90.
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Towards the end of the first day's racing, while attempting to overtake the Austin 7 Ulster of Archibald Frazer-Nash, Euan Rabagliati lost control and skidded, and his fellow Talbot driver Roland Hebeler crashed into him.
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Edward "Ted" Allery, Euan Rabagliati's riding mechanic, was killed, and Euan Rabagliati suffered severe head injuries, having a silver plate inserted into his skull.
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Euan Rabagliati was a member of the Reserve of Air Force Officers, being confirmed in his rank of flying officer on 29 March 1924.
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Euan Rabagliati remained a member of the Army Reserve of Officers until 4 June 1948, finally relinquishing his commission on exceeding the age limit of liability to recall, but retained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
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In June 1941 Euan Rabagliati met with Thomas Sneum, a former Danish Naval Air Service lieutenant who had flown from Denmark to England in a Hornet Moth.
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Euan Rabagliati, working with Dutch former police chief Francois van 't Sant, head of the Dutch Central Intelligence Department in London, infiltrated five agents into the Netherlands, to provide communications with Dutch resistance groups, but by December 1941 only one, Aart Alblas, was still at liberty.
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Euan Rabagliati eventually retired to Cannes in the South of France.
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Euan Rabagliati was married three times; firstly in 1916 to Monica Priestley, the daughter of Joseph Child Priestley, then on 4 December 1922 to Clarissa Catherine Melvill de Hochepied Larpent, daughter of John Melvill, 9th Baron de Hochepied, at St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, London.