(Promoted back to Flight Lieutenant, 1 January 1948) Centralia (28 March 1948 to 11 November 1950) No.412 Squadron at Rockcliffe (12 November 1950 to 30 November 1952) (Promoted to Squadron Leader on 1 January 1953) Trenton again (1 December 1952 to 1 September 1954 Being with No.6 Repair Depot to 3 March 1953 and No.129 Acceptance and Ferry Flight thereafter) Air Materiel Command Headquarters (2 September 1954 to 16 November 1958) and Station Downsview (17 November 1958 to retirement on 2 April 1963) Died in Ottawa, 26 May 1998 Associated with the postwar RCAF Auxiliary. See Volume II of Profiles of the Few (Profile Press) See Dave Brown, "Saying Goodbye to an Old Kriegie", Ottawa Citizen, 28 May 1998 Public Record Office WO 208/3336 has MI.9 report based on interview of 2 July 1945. I took off from Biggin Hill in a Spitfire aircraft at 1430 hours on 4 July 1941 on a bomber escort patrol with my Wing. My section was attacked by a formation of Messerschmitt 109s near Lille. My aircraft was badly damaged by cannon and machine gun fire and I was wounded in the left arm and shoulder. The engine stopped and smoke poured from the engine cowlings. I baled out and landed in a field near St.Omer (Northwest Europe 1:250,000, Sheet 1, M 15) about 1600 hours. I was unconscious when I reached the ground and when I became aware of my surroundings I discovered that my injuries were being treated by several Frenchmen. They hid my parachute and harness and tried to assist me to walk. I was too weak to do so and a party of Germans arrived about 20 minutes later. I was moved to hospital in Lille by ambulance soon afterwards. 2. CAMPS IN WHICH IMPRISONED:
3. ATTEMPTED ESCAPE At 0500 hours on 25 March 1944 I escaped from the North Compound, Stalag Luft III (Sagan) by means of the tunnel known as AHarry”. I was 79th man in the tunnel. I was wearing an army battle-dress and a shortened army Other Rank greatcoat. I was in possession of forged identity documents. On leaving the exit of the tunnel I went into the woods north of the camp and joined Flight Lieutenant Reavell-Carter to await the other members of our party of ten. A few moments later Flight Lieutenant Shand, RNZAF, left the exit of the tunnel to join Flight Lieutenant Reavell-Carter and me. When he had covered about half the distance, the German sentry on patrol outside the fence approached the exit of the tunnel. He discovered Flight Lieutenant Langwell who was lying in the snow at the edge of the exit. The sentry fired one shot and began to shout. Flight Lieutenant Reavell-Carter told me that he thought we had been seen and jumped up shouting “Kamerad”. The sentry instructed him to put up his hands and walk towards him. During this time I remained in a prone position on the ground. When I saw that the sentry had not noticed me I wriggled further into the woods and crawled away. It was then almost dawn. When I was about 50 yards from the sentry I began to run west through the woods. After a time I turned south and about an hour later I found a hiding place in the woods, where I remained until dark that evening. I then walked south through the woods and at dawn on 26 March I was captured by a member of the German Home Guard near Malbau (Central Europe, 1:250,000, Sheet O.52, B 14). I was taken to a police station at the Autobahn near Malbau. On the way there I dropped the forged passes, maps, etc after I had torn them up in my pocket. I was kept at the police station for about an hour and then taken by car to Halbau. I was taken to an inn and interrogated briefly by a German in civilian clothes. About two hours later Flight Lieutenants Thompson, Hall, and Evans were brought to the inn and interrogated in my presence. About 0900 hours the four of us were taken by car to the police station at Sagan. After being stripped and thoroughly searched we were put into a cell with about 20 other officers who had participated in the escape from Stalag Luft III. We remained there until about 0100 hours on 27 March when we were taken by lorry to the Civil Prison, Gorlitz. I was put into a cell with Flight Lieutenants Royle and Hall. We remained there until about 1100 hours on 29 March when we were moved to the Military Prison, Gorlitz. We were interrogated separately. I was asked how I had escaped, who had ordered me to escape, where I was going, whether I had any friends in Czechoslovakia, how the tunnel had been constructed, etc. I refused to answer all questions and gave my number, rank and name only. The interrogation lasted about one hour and was nor pressed. My interrogator (name unknown) was a Sonderfuhrer in Wehrmacht uniform. After the interrogation I rejoined Flight Lieutenants Royle and Hall. We were taken back to the Civil Prison, Gorlitz, and placed in the same cell. We remained there until about 4 April. During this time the various other officers were put into our cell for varying periods. On 2 April we were joined by Lieutenant McGarr who remained with us until 4 April. On 29 March at about 1500 hours the door of our cell was left open for a few minutes. During this time I saw Squadron Leader Cross, Flight Lieutenants Casey and McGill and several other officers (not recognized) in the corridor. Flight Lieutenant McGill was handcuffed to an extremely tall, broad-shouldered civilian who had a battered-looking pugilistic type of face. The cell door was then closed and I did not see again any of these officers. About 0800 hours on 4 April Flight Lieutenants Royle, Thompson, Armstrong and I were taken by train to Stalag Luft III (Sagam). We were put into cells, where we remained for 21 days. We were then released into the North Compound. I was liberated by Allied forces near Lubeck on 2 May 1945. I was taken by lorry to Lunenburg and sent by air to Brussels, where I was detained in hospital until about 15 May. On that day I was sent by air to the United Kingdom. Supplemental to the above was another statement: From April 1943 to September 1943 I assisted Flight Lieutenant Reavel-Carter in the Red Cross parcel store at Stalag Luft III (Sagan). During this time we removed specially marked parcels from the store without the knowledge of the Germans and smuggled them into the North Compound. From September 1943 until March 1944 I was in charge of the Red Cross parcel store in the Vorlager of the North Compound. Occasionally I was helped by Flight Lieutenant Snow, RAF and Flying Officer Nurse, RCAF. We removed specially marked parcels from the store and smuggled them into the North Compound. During this time I was in close contact with Captain Williams, USAAF, who was doing similar work in the same store for the South Compound (American Camp). |
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 Summer 1940, 609 squadron, Battle of Britain - Keith 'Skeets' Ogilvie (left), and his buddy, Eugene 'Red' Tobin (right). Ogilvie - "Red was a fantastic chap, one of three Americans on 609. The others were Andy Mamedoff and Shorty Keough. After the Blitz they all transferred to the Eagle squadrons and were subsequently killed in action." - (Photo & quote from the book, "The Royal Canadian Air Force at War" by Larry Milberry & Hugh Halliday) |
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OGILVIE, F/O Alfred Keith (42872) - Distinguished Flying Cross - No.609 Squadron
Awarded as per London Gazette dated 11 July 1941
This officer has displayed great keenness and determination in his efforts to seek and destroy the enemy. He has shot down at least five hostile aircraft.
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Prisoner of WarOttawa, Aug. 27, 1941 - (CP) - Official word reached the parents of Pilot Officer Keith Ogilvie, D.F.C., today the young Ottawa flier in the Royal Air Force is a prisoner of war, badly wounded. He was reported missing last month.
(R) During the Battle of Britain, Ogilvie finds time to |
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AIRMEN WORK FOR 15 MONTHS TO ESCAPE FROM PRISON CAMP
Reveals Eight Canadian Flyers Shot at Random by Germans After Recapture
Ottawa, Sept. 15, 1945 —(CP)— The incredible story of 15 months of painstaking effort which preceded the ill-fated escape of 76 Allied air officers from Stalag Luft III in March, 1944, was told to The Canadian Press today by Flt.-Lieut. A. Keith (Skeets) Ogilvie, of Ottawa.
 "Skeets" in 1941 while with 609 sq. |
"Sheer Luck” |
Coordinating the work, which involved at least 500 prisoners and the simultaneous construction of three tunnels more than 300 feet long, was an R.A.F. escape expert known to all but a handful of his fellow prisoners as "Big X."
While work was in progress an elaborate warning network of 200 prisoners kept watch above ground and served the dual purpose of disposing of sandy soil from the tunnel linings. The others worked in relays of two or three at the "faces" and in passing back excavated material for disposal.
The two greatest problems were avoiding detection by German seismographs and soil disposal, he said. The excavated sand, lighter in color than the top soil, had to be disposed of a handful at a time during sports events, meal parades and "any other time when the earth was being scuffed up."
The three major tunnel projects were nicknamed "Tom, Dick and Harry."
Guard Suspicious
"Tom" was nearly 300 feet long when discovered by a guard who accidentally dropped a hammer near the entrance and became suspicious at the hollow sound. "Dick," was uncovered by a Nazi spotter.
"Harry," escaped detection because of its depth—30 feet below the surface—in the clever entrance, contrived by hinging the concrete slab under a stove in one of the huts. This was closed while work was in progress.
Even a ventilating system, made with two kit bags was a double action air pump and powdered milk cans fixed together to form a pipe which was buried under the railway, was installed.
After nine months of work and several heart-breaking cave-ins, "Harry" was completed March 23 and that night the "break" came off “like a military operation."
Alarm Given
Unfortunately, through a miscalculation, the exit came up in a cleared space and the 77th man to emerge was caught by a guard and the alarm given.
Ogilvie himself was among 32 caught and handed over to the Gestapo at Gorlitz in Silesia
"They told us that some would be shot, but we thought it was the usual Nazi bluffing. For several days they picked out groups of six or eight at random. It was just luck that I wasn't among them."
He was one of four returned to Stalag Luft III from Gorlitz and there found eight other escapees who had been recaptured.
Instructions came from the Air Ministry, by means still secret, to discontinue further mass escape attempts. But, "as a pastime" the prisoners had another tunnel, leading to the guards' quarters, nearly completed when they were moved to another camp to avoid the Russian steam-roller.
"The idea was to aid our own liberation if the opportunity arose by capturing the guards' weapons right under their noses."
Formerly a member of the Ottawa Flying Club, Ogilvie was awarded the D.F.C. in the Battle of Britain. He was shot down during a daylight sweep over Lille, France, in 1941. He transferred to the R.C.A.F. since the end of the war.
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Victories Include :
6 / 1 - 0 / 1 - 2 |
 Of all the war-time photos of Ogilvie there are very few in which he is not smiling |
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Related Sites : |
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Thanks go out to
On these pages I use Hugh Halliday's extensive research which includes info from numerous sources; newspaper articles via the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC); the Google News Archives; the London Gazette Archives and other sources both published and private.
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