Alec Ogilvie 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 in 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 . 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 . 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 . First World War . On 19 February 1915 Ogilvie was commissioned as an RNAS officer in the rank of squadron commander . Ogilvie initially was given responsibility for overseeing flying training at the Naval Flying School , Eastchurch . On 5 April 1916 he took command of the aircraft repair depot at Dunkirk , and was promoted acting wing commander on 31 December 1916 . On 5 March 1917 he became a member of the Air Board , eventually serving as controller of the technical department . The rank of wing commander was confirmed on 30 June 1917 . 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 . 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 ) . A note in his new RAF service record states , " [ He has ] flown most types of aircraft except single seaters . " He was injured in a flying accident on 8 June 1918 . Post - war . Ogilvie resigned from the Air Board in 1919 , being placed on the RAF unemployed list on 10 March . 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 " . He subsequently moved to Australia for some years . He died , aged 80 , on 18 June 1962 at his home in Ringwood , Hampshire .