Patrick Young Alexander (28 March 1867 – 7 July 1943) was a British aeronautical pioneer fascinated by the possibility of heavier-than-air flight.

Patrick Alexander was respected by fellow aeronautical pioneers and knew Octave Chanute, the Wright brothers, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Lawrence Hargrave, Louis Blériot, Henry Farman, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce and Major Baden Baden-Powell, as well as European heads of state and royalty.

Patrick, a world traveller, arranged meetings between those interested in aeronautics, and gave lectures on the progress being made.

In 1878, Patrick Alexander, doubtless encouraged by his father, built an elastic driven model aeroplane of the Penaud type.

One attraction was irresistible: the enormous hydrogen balloon of Henri Giffard, which was capable of taking 52 passengers at a time on a tethered ascent to 500 metres (1,600 ft).

The very next day he sailed upon the Minero, a barque of 478 tones bound for Fremantle in Western Australia, a distance of 12,500 miles (20,000 km) in a vessel powered only by the wind.

The ship was still three weeks away from port and there was little that could be done other than to strap Patrick into a bunk for the rest of the journey, letting the leg heal without expert attention.

The Minero set sail for Cossack and Port Walcott some 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the North, seeking a cargo, probably of wool and pearl shell, for the return to London.

On 10 August, in rough weather on a wet and slippery deck, Alexander fell again and re-broke his injured leg.

Patrick Alexander became increasingly interested in aviation and related subjects, such as meteorology, parachutes, balloons, and propellers.

In 1894, Patrick took it to Germany where he conducted scientific ascents that excited interest among German scientists and the lay public, as well as that of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

His most prestigious workshop was The Mount at Batheaston purchased in 1900 and here he had a gas supply brought into the garden and a balloon inflation valve installed.

The Zeppelin was launched from a floating assembly hall on Lake Constance; Patrick observed from a motor boat in order to be as close as possible.

Later that year, at the invitation of the Berlin Metrological Institute, he made a flight in the world's largest balloon, a non-dirigible with a capacity of 9,000 cubic metres (320,000 cu ft).

Early in the 1890s, he travelled to Germany to meet Otto Lilienthal who was experimenting with gliders, and he continued to study ideas from a wide variety of sources.

In 1896, Hiram Stevens Maxim came close to achieving flight when his huge steam-powered machine briefly lifted from the rails that also restrained it.

On hearing that Patrick Alexander was planning a return trip to the US in October 1903, the Wright brothers, not known for welcoming interruptions to their work, said they would be happy to meet him.

That same year Patrick Alexander moved to nearby Mytchett in Surrey where he was involved with the Army Balloon section.

Chard in Somerset had been the location of some remarkable aviation experiments by John Stringfellow in 1848: he constructed a model aeroplane that is claimed to have achieved the first ever power flight.

Patrick Alexander obtained and had restored at his expense, Stringfellow's earlier models and presented them to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The prize was offered through the auspices of the Aerial League of which Alexander was a founding member and the testing would be performed by the National Physical Laboratory.

In 1917 he was given a job by the newly formed Air Ministry at the Metrological Office at Falmouth; here he worked until the end of the war.

His primary contribution to the history of aviation was that through his tireless efforts, many journeys, writings, public speeches, and generous donations he was responsible for collecting and disseminating ideas across nations and continents without which development in the field would have proceeded more slowly.

He was driven by native curiosity and ambition, and yet he was always supportive of the efforts of others, often making generous financial contributions, and was not jealous of their achievements.

Ironically his headstone faces the flight path from Heathrow Airport, and features a simple inscription: Something Attempted Something Done