Reginald Alfred Charles Brie MBE AFRAeS AFIAeS (27 November 1895 – 1988) was a British rotorcraft test and demonstration pilot.
In 1922, he left the RAF, and was retained in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR).
Subsequently, he obtained 30 minutes dual instruction with Arthur 'Dizzy' Rawson in a Cierva C.19, and then went solo in it.
Weir offered him a short-term contract as an autogiro pilot, and he resigned from his job at Shell.
[1][2] In November 1930, he was employed by Cierva Autogiro Company as a test pilot to temporarily replace Arthur Rawson, who had been injured in a forced landing.
In 1932, he helped establish the sales department and the Cierva Autogiro Flying School at London Air Park, Hanworth.
When the Avro factory at Hamble was closed, the development activities of the company were also moved to Hanworth.
[1][2] Throughout the 1930s, he flew Cierva autogiros in private and public demonstrations in UK and overseas, delivery flights, record attempts, informal competitions against fixed wing aircraft, and in pleasure flights with passengers.
In 1933, he was convicted of "low and dangerous flying" in an autogiro over the Kingston Bypass road, adjacent to Hook Aerodrome, Surrey.
[1][2] In 1947, he returned to the United States on behalf of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, to report on helicopter operations.
The unit was initially based at Gatwick Airport, then in 1948 it moved to Yeovil, from where regular mail flights were trialled in East Anglia and Dorset.
He developed the commercial operations of the unit, and in 1952 set up a permanent base for it at the original site of Gatwick Airport.
In 1958, he retired from BEA, and joined Westland Helicopters as Personal Assistant to the Technical Director.