His father, the son of an Italian political refugee who had settled in Edinburgh, worked as a surgeon at Bradford Infirmary.
[1] He then attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as a gentlemen cadet, and after passing out was commissioned as a second lieutenant in The King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry) on 14 February 1912.
5 Squadron RFC, which moved to France on 14 August, ten days after Britain's declaration of war on Germany.
[7] On 21 August Second Lieutenant C. W. Wilson, with Rabagliati as his observer, flew the squadron's first reconnaissance mission, locating German cavalry ten miles from Namur.
The squadron's commanding officer Major John Higgins ordered Wilson to drive him off, and Rabagliati jumped into the observer's seat of their Avro 504 carrying a Lee–Enfield .303 rifle and ammunition.
Rabagliati fired around 100 rounds before the Taube pilot slumped forward into his seat and the aircraft descended to the ground and landed.
[12] On 4 November 1915 he was awarded the Military Cross, his citation reading: The presentation took place at Buckingham Palace on 9 December.
Towards the end of the first day's racing, while attempting to overtake the Austin 7 Ulster of Archibald Frazer-Nash, Rabagliati lost control and skidded, and his fellow Talbot driver Roland Hebeler crashed into him.
[34] Rabagliati also remained a member of the Army Reserve of Officers until 4 June 1948, finally relinquishing his commission on exceeding the age limit of liability to recall, but retained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
In June 1941 Rabagliati met with Thomas Sneum, a former Danish Naval Air Service lieutenant who had flown from Denmark to England in a Hornet Moth (which necessitated him climbing out onto the wings mid-flight to refuel).
During the meeting, at Rabagliati's home in St. James's, close to the offices of MI6, he persuaded Sneum to return to Denmark as an agent.
[36] Rabagliati's first operation as head of Section P8, covering the Netherlands, was in March 1942 when he attempted to infiltrate two agents by boat.
[1] The operation's leader, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, wrote Soldier of Orange describing his war time experiences.
Rabagliati was married three times; firstly in 1916 to Monica Priestley, the daughter of Joseph Child Priestley,[39] then on 4 December 1922 to Clarissa Catherine Melvill de Hochepied Larpent, daughter of John Melvill, 9th Baron de Hochepied, at St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate, London.