Wilfred Green (RAF officer)

Captain Wilfrid Barratt Green[note 1] DFC (9 April 1898 – 13 September 1947[note 2]) was an English World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories.[2]

Wilfrid Barratt Green
Born	(1898-04-09)9 April 1898 Burslem, Staffordshire, England
Died	13 September 1947(1947-09-13) (aged 49) Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army Royal Air Force
Years of service	1917–1919
Rank	Captain
Unit	London Regiment (Artists' Rifles) No. 32 Squadron RAF
Battles/wars	World War I  • Western Front
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross Légion d'Honneur (France) Croix de Guerre (France)

Biography

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]

Notes

1. This is the form of his name used in the military service records of the National Archives, but the London Gazette and other sources sometimes use Wilfrid and Barrat.
2. The Sentinel article gives 13 November as his date of death.[1]
3. The 760000 series of six digit service numbers were issued from January 1917.[11]

References

1. Simpson, Matthew (13 November 2014). "Staffordshire's Great War heroes to be immortalised in street names". The Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
2. "Wilfrid Barratt Green". The Aerodrome. 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
3. "No. 33770". The London Gazette. 10 November 1931. p. 7274.
4. "The Nile Street Works, Burslem". Notes of the local history of Stoke-on-Trent, England. 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2015. From the 1907 Staffordshire Sentinel "Business Reference Guide to The Potteries, Newcastle & District"
5. "Burslem Public Institutions, 1907". thepotteries.org. 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
6. "Casualty Details: Green, Thomas Seaman". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
7. "War Memorials: Glos., Staffs., Cheshire, Derby & other counties". Great War Forum. 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
8. "War Memorial, Christ Church, Fenton, Staffordshire". Military Photos Website. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
9. "Medal card of Green, Wilfred Barratt". The National Archives. 2015. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
10. Highman, S. Stagoll (1922). The regimental roll of honour and war record of the Artists' Rifles (3rd ed.). London: Howlett & Son. p. 171. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
11. Nixon, Paul (14 January 2009). "28th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Artists' Rifles)". Army Service Numbers 1881-1918. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
12. Highman, S. Stagoll (1922). The regimental roll of honour and war record of the Artists' Rifles (3rd ed.). London, UK: Howlett & Son. p. xviii. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
13. "No. 30279". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 September 1917. p. 9424.
14. "No. 30367". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 November 1917. p. 11436.
15. "No. 30764". The London Gazette. 25 June 1918. p. 7487.
16. "32 Squadron Pilots". No. 32 Squadron RFC/RAF 1918. 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
17. "No. 31046". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 November 1918. p. 14321.
18. "No. 31042". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 November 1918. p. 14204.
19. "No. 31457". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 July 1919. p. 8986.