Page 116 - They Also Served

lieutenant-colonel, having received a third MiD and the AFC. Known to his family as Euan and his comrades as ‘The Rabbi’, he retired from the RAF in 1919 and joined Lloyds of London, where he was an early specialist in aviation insurance. He also enjoyed a parallel career as an amateur racing driver, winning several races. However, at Brooklands on 9th May 1930, another car hit Rabagliati’s machine, which spun off the track into the spectator area, killing one and injuring 20. Furthermore, in those days, drivers had a ride-on mechanic and Ted Allery was also killed, which resulted in the end of that practice. Brooklands was also sued in a celebrated case, after which, every circuit had to display signs stating: ‘Motor Racing is Dangerous!’ Rabagliati was seriously injured, resulting in the insertion of a silver plate into his skull. When he awoke from the coma, he asked for a bottle of champagne.
During the Second World War, Rabagliati remained in the army reserves and worked for MI6, responsible for running agents into occupied Holland and Denmark. One agent, Peter Tazelaar, was put ashore at night from a motor torpedo boat wearing a dinner jacket under his wetsuit, with the aim of impersonating a drunken party guest if he were apprehended. The ruse later inspired the opening scene of the James Bond film Goldfinger. After the war, Rabagliati worked as the British vice-consul and later Chairman of the British Trade Centre in San Francisco. Retiring to Cannes in the South of France and having packed more into a lifetime than most, Lieutenant- Colonel Euan Rabagliati MC AFC died on 6th January 1978.
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