18 July 2023
David Ogilvy, co-founder of the Vintage Aircraft Club, co-founder of AOPA UK and former RAF pilot, has died at the age of 94.
David Ogilvy OBE FRAeS was one of the most active and influential people in light aviation, also founding the General Aviation Awareness Council and becoming General Manager of the Shuttleworth Collection.
His career as a pilot started with the RAF at the end of WWII, and he became associated with the Mosquito.
In 1951, while still in the RAF, he created the Vintage Aeroplane Club with Ron Gillman. Membership was then restricted to owners of suitable historic aircraft who included legendary test pilot Neville Duke. The club later renamed as the Vintage Aircraft Club.
After leaving the RAF, he joined Elstree Flying School, turned it into London School of Flying and expanded into three airfields, Elstree, Denham and Derby.
In 1967, while working at Shuttleworth, David also worked part-time at the then British Light Aviation Centre. The BLAC was invited by the US-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to become AOPA UK, and he went on to do “every job at AOPA apart from the accounts” including being involved in no fewer than 752 issues to do with aerodromes – that figure dates from 2012 so it may be ever higher.
David was also a prolific author and his 17th and latest book is with his publisher now, appropriately called Flying and Preserving Historic Aircraft: The Memoirs of David Ogilvy OBE, Vice-President of the Historic Aircraft Association. It will be available in September
Martin Robinson, CEO of AOPA UK, who knew David well, has kindly given permission for FLYER to make available a pdf download of an interview with David Ogilvy written by Pat Malone. It was published in the June 2012 edition of General Aviation, the AOPA UK magazine.
Click here to download the article – it’s an excellent read about an exceptional man.
