Wilfred Green (RAF officer)

He was the second son of Thomas Seaman and Louisa Green of Burslem.^[3] His father was a grocer, baker, and provision dealer,^[4] who served as a member of the borough council, as a councillor for the East Ward, in 1906–1908.^[5] His older brother Thomas Seaman Green (1895–1917), served as a lieutenant in No. 3 Squadron RFC and was killed in action near Heilly, on 13 February 1917, aged 22.^[6][7][8]

Green enlisted into the 28th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (Artists' Rifles) as a private (No. 765446) in 1917.^{[9][10][note 3]} At this time the Artists' Rifles battalions were officer training units, which supplied 10,256 officers to other units over the course of the war.^[12]

Green was transferred to the General List to be appointed a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps on 12 August 1917.^[13] He was confirmed in his rank and appointed a flying officer on 15 October 1917.^[14]

Green was assigned to No. 32 Squadron, flying the S.E.5a single-seat fighter. He gained his first aerial victory on 2 April 1918, the day after the Army's Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) were merged to form the Royal Air Force, by driving down a Pfalz D.III out of control north-east of Moreuil. Several weeks later, on 16 May he sent another Pfalz D.III down in flames over Fresnes.

On 9 June 1918, by then a lieutenant, he was appointed temporary captain,^[15] and served as flight commander of "B" Flight.^[16] July 1918 proved the high point of Green's combat career, driving down a Pfalz D.III over Dormans on the 15th, and a Fokker D.VII over Tréloup the next day. On 22 July he drove down another D.VII over Mont-Notre-Dame, and on the 25th another D.VII over Fismes. He gained his seventh and final victory on 23 August, destroying a Fokker D.VII east of Douai.^[2] Green finally left No. 32 Squadron on 8 September 1918.^[16]

On 29 November 1918 his award of the Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted, the citation reading:

Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Wilfred Barrat Green

A bold and very gallant officer who has destroyed two enemy aeroplanes and driven down five out of control. He has also shown a fine offensive spirit in engaging ground targets during the recent battles, using his machine guns with great effect.^[17]

On the same day he also received permission to wear the Croix de Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur awarded by France.^[18] He also received the Croix de Guerre avec Palme from France. His permission to wear it was gazetted on 11 July 1919.^[19]

In November 2014 it was announced that a street in the new Smithfield city centre business district of Stoke-on-Trent will be named after him, alongside others named after local men who served in the First World War.^[1]