Alfred Keith “Skeets” Ogilvie

Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace and Great Escape Survivor

The Royal Canadian Air Force turned him away. The Royal Air Force gave him a Spitfire. Within two years, Alfred Keith “Skeets” Ogilvie had fought through the Battle of Britain, become a decorated fighter ace, been shot down over occupied France and fallen into German hands. His war still had another extraordinary chapter to come. From the cockpit of a Spitfire to the tunnel known as Harry at Stalag Luft III, Ogilvie lived one of the most remarkable Canadian air force stories of the Second World War.

Alfred Keith Ogilvie was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on September 14, 1915. Known throughout his service as “Skeets,” he was an enthusiastic sportsman who worked in the securities business after leaving school. As the crisis in Europe deepened, he sought a place in the Royal Canadian Air Force. His application was rejected because, at that time, the RCAF was seeking university graduates and Ogilvie had not attended university. Rather than abandon his ambition to fly, he applied for a short-service commission in the Royal Air Force in August 1939 and soon sailed for Britain.

Ogilvie began flying training at Hatfield and continued at No. 9 Flying Training School at RAF Hullavington. He was later sent for instructor training, but the heavy losses suffered by RAF Fighter Command during the campaign in France created an urgent demand for operational pilots. After converting to the Supermarine Spitfire at No. 5 Operational Training Unit, Aston Down, he joined No. 609 Squadron at Middle Wallop in August 1940.

He entered combat at the height of the Battle of Britain. On September 7, 1940, Ogilvie encountered Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and claimed his first victory. More combats followed as No. 609 Squadron confronted German bomber and fighter formations over southern England and the English Channel. On September 15 he shared in the destruction of a Dornier Do 17, and later that month he destroyed a Messerschmitt Bf 110 during a violent engagement in which another aircraft collided almost directly in front of him.

The Battle of Britain was only the beginning. Ogilvie continued flying offensive operations with No. 609 Squadron into 1941, adding further victories to his record. A modern official RCAF history credits him with seven enemy aircraft by the time his combat career ended. His wartime Distinguished Flying Cross citation used the more conservative contemporary figure of at least five destroyed.

His Distinguished Flying Cross was effective July 11, 1941. The official citation captured in a few words the qualities that had made him successful in combat:

“This officer has displayed great keenness and determination to seek and destroy the enemy. He has shot down at least five hostile aircraft.”

The award recognized not a single dramatic action, but a sustained record of aggression, determination and success against enemy aircraft.

By the time the DFC was announced, however, Ogilvie was already a prisoner of war.

On July 4, 1941, he took off from RAF Biggin Hill in Spitfire Mk Vb X4664 as No. 609 Squadron participated in Circus 32, an operation over northern France. During combat with Messerschmitt Bf 109s, his Spitfire was badly damaged. Ogilvie was wounded in the left arm and shoulder but succeeded in abandoning the aircraft near Saint-Omer. His injuries left him unable to evade capture. He subsequently spent months recovering in hospitals in Lille and Brussels before entering the German prisoner-of-war system.

For many airmen, capture would have brought the active part of the war to an end. For Skeets Ogilvie, it opened another chapter.

After recovering from his wounds, he was eventually sent to Stalag Luft III at Sagan, now Żagań in Poland. There he became involved in the prisoners' extensive escape organization. Ogilvie worked with Red Cross parcels, a position that allowed prisoners to identify and recover material secretly sent into the camp for escape preparations. By 1944, the prisoners were preparing the mass breakout that would become known around the world as the Great Escape.

On the night of March 24 to 25, 1944, Ogilvie was among the men selected to escape through the tunnel code-named Harry. Seventy-six Allied prisoners succeeded in getting beyond the camp wire before the tunnel was discovered. Ogilvie was one of the last men to emerge. When a German guard detected activity around the tunnel exit, confusion erupted around the edge of the woods. Ogilvie managed to avoid immediate capture and disappeared into the darkness.

For approximately two days he remained free, travelling and hiding through the surrounding countryside before being recaptured. He was taken to Görlitz and interrogated before eventually being returned to Stalag Luft III. What awaited him there was the terrible truth of the Great Escape. Of the 76 men who had escaped, only three ultimately reached safety. Fifty of the recaptured prisoners were murdered by the Gestapo on Adolf Hitler's orders. Six of those murdered were Canadians. Ogilvie had escaped not only from the camp, but narrowly from the fate that befell many of his fellow prisoners.

As Soviet forces advanced in early 1945, the prisoners of Stalag Luft III were evacuated westward in severe winter conditions. Ogilvie survived the forced march and was liberated by advancing British forces near the end of the war. He returned to Britain to recover before sailing home to Canada in 1945.

There was another important change in his military status during captivity. Ogilvie had been promoted to Flight Lieutenant while a prisoner, and his transfer from the RAF to the Royal Canadian Air Force took effect in November 1944 while he was still in German hands. After returning to Canada, he chose to remain in uniform. He initially assisted with the reception of returning Canadian air personnel and later resumed flying. His postwar career included service with No. 412 Transport Squadron, 129 Acceptance and Ferry Flight, and a series of staff and station appointments.

Ogilvie married Irene Lockwood in 1946. His air force career carried him from piston-engined wartime fighters into the postwar RCAF, and he eventually attained the rank of Squadron Leader. He retired in April 1963 after more than two decades of combined RAF and RCAF service.

The ribbon rack worn on his postwar RCAF uniform reflected that extraordinary career. In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, Ogilvie's verified entitlement included the 1939-1945 Star with Battle of Britain clasp, Air Crew Europe Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Overseas clasp, War Medal 1939-1945, and Canadian Forces Decoration with one clasp. His surviving Squadron Leader uniform, donated by his daughter to the National Air Force Museum of Canada, provides exceptional physical evidence of his postwar service and honours.

Alfred Keith “Skeets” Ogilvie died in Ottawa on May 26, 1998. He was cremated, and in accordance with his wishes, some of his ashes were scattered in the rose garden beside the chapel at RAF Biggin Hill. It was a fitting return to a place closely associated with the young Canadian Spitfire pilot who had gone to war in the RAF and survived combat, serious wounds, years of captivity, the Great Escape and the final collapse of Nazi Germany.

Ogilvie's legacy reaches beyond a victory score or a row of ribbons. He was one of "The Few" who defended Britain in 1940, a decorated Canadian fighter ace of No. 609 Squadron, a survivor of Stalag Luft III and one of the 76 men of the Great Escape. His story links the Battle of Britain, the air war over occupied Europe and one of the most famous prisoner-of-war escapes in military history. Few Canadian airmen experienced all three. Fewer still came home to continue serving their country.