Day fighters Green joined the
Royal Auxiliary Air Force after returning to England in 1936. He was posted to
601 Squadron Auxiliary Air Force on 28 February 1937, the "millionaires squadron". He took his first flight with the squadron that day in a
Hawker Hart and continued training on the Hart, its two-seat variant the
Hawker Demon and the
Avro Tutor. He was awarded his flying badge on 19 September 1937. He was briefly transferred to
No. 79 Squadron RAF which operated as the Operational Conversion Unit for
Gloster Gauntlet fighters, and returned to 601 which had switched to this type in November 1938. In March 1939 he underwent further conversion training on the
Airspeed Oxford in preparation for 601 to switch to the
Bristol Blenheim light bomber. In April he was awarded command of his own Blenheim, L6618 (UF-M). Green was promoted to Flight Lieutenant in command of A flight of the newly forming
No. 92 Squadron RAF at
RAF Tangmere. Over the next months, he flew a wide variety of aircraft, including the Hind and
Fairey Battles before returning to the Blenheim. In February 1940 he began flying
Harvard and
Miles Master as conversion training as No. 92 prepared to switch to the
Supermarine Spitfire. He flew solo in the Spitfire on 8 March 1940 and began flying patrols from
RAF Hornchurch on 23 May. That day he got a "probable" on a
Messerschmitt Bf 109 and damaged another. Flying another patrol later that day, an armor-piercing bullet hit him in the leg. Using his fingers to staunch the bleeding, he turned up his oxygen to full to avoid passing out and landed at
RAF Hawkinge. He spent several of the following months in various hospitals. On his recuperation, on 10 October 1940 he flew to
RAF Biggin Hill to take command of
No. 421 (Reconnaissance) Flight RAF at
RAF Gravesend flying Spitfires and
Hawker Hurricanes. On the 12th he was once again wounded in Spitfire Mk.IIa P7441 by JG 52 pilot and bailed out of his aircraft after a long struggle trying to get out of the cockpit. He was not seriously injured and returned to flying on 1 November. On 25 November he shot down a
Dornier Do 17 piloting Spitfire LZ-V, whose destruction was confirmed by the
Royal Navy as it was seen crashing in mid Channel, but unsubstantiated. He had another probable against a 109 on 5 December (16 claimed but only 3 destroyed), and piloting Spitfire LZ-K shared a kill against what was claimed to be a
Dornier Do 215 on 27 December. Also this claim is unsubstantiated. No loss by Luftwaffe, only one Do 17 slightly damaged, either by 421 Flight or by 234 Squadron F/O Edward Brian "Mortie" Mortimer-Rose piloting X4243. On 11 January 1941, No. 421 was redesignated
No. 91 Squadron RAF and Green was promoted Squadron Leader Commanding. He was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross on 3 April 1941.
Various posts On 16 June he was posted to Headquarters Fighter Command as a Staff Officer and spent the next few months in a variety of roles, including a short stint as a German
Heinkel He 111 pilot in the film
The First of the Few. On 29 August 1941, Green flew his first flight in the
Bristol Beaufighter and went solo on 13 September. On 13 October he was sent to No.54 Operational Training Unit for
night fighter training, flying
Airspeed Oxfords and Blenheims. He was posted to reserve squadron
No. 600 Squadron RAF on 14 November to command A flight, which flew the Beaufighter II, a version powered by the
Rolls-Royce Merlin engines instead of their normal
Bristol Hercules, a combination he said was "the most dangerous aircraft to fly that was ever made". In December 1941 he punctured his ear drum which led to another short grounding. In early 1942 he was sent to the No. 1 Blind Approach School and then returned to No. 600 on 11 February. On 2 June he was made Wing Commander of
No. 125 Squadron RAF at
RAF Fairwood Common.
Night fighters On 10 December 1942, Green was once again posted to command No. 600, which by this time had moved to Maison Blanche Airport in
Algeria, today's
Houari Boumediene Airport. He ferried to the airport on 24 December by
Douglas Dakota and
Boeing B-17. On arrival, he rejoined his former radar operator,
Reginald Joseph Gillies. The unit fought the
Luftwaffe during the closing stages of the battle against the
Afrika Korps in
Tunis. During this time the squadron won a number of battle awards, leading to the nicknames "The Black Knights", "The Fright in the Night", and "The Gong Squadron". On 5 May 1943, Green and Gillies shot down a
Junkers Ju 88 during a dawn patrol. The next day he was hit by fire from a destroyer near
Bouficha, which led to the aircraft being too heavily damaged to immediately return to flight. The squadron then moved to
RAF Luqa on
Malta. While covering the action during the invasion of
Sicily, over a period of three nights in July, Green and Gillies were credited with seven confirmed kills, including four on one sortie. This led to them both being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 20 August 1943. On 10 July, as part of the
Allied invasion of Sicily, he was awarded a kill on a Ju 88, and on the 12th, a He 111. By the end of the month, his score was nine destroyed, two probables and four damaged, and on 29 July he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order. On 11 August he downed another Ju 88, and a probable on an He 111 on 9 September. After the successful
Allied invasion of Italy, the unit moved to
Salerno on 23 September. During this time the 600 gained such a fearsome reputation that their presence would be announced in the Allied press to ward off Luftwaffe operations. He had his last kill, on a Ju 88, on 25 January 1944, by which point
Luftwaffe operations were beginning to wind down as the full effect of the Soviet advances and massive increase in RAF and USAAF bombing began. On 11 April 1944 he received the Soviet
Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class, and on 8 July 1944 he was awarded the US
Distinguished Flying Cross.
Later roles In the summer of 1944, Green was promoted to Group Captain of the 1 Mobile Operations group of the
Desert Air Force, and then to command a wing of
Douglas Boston bombers. On 5 November, he was posted to command No. 232 Wing, a composite unit flying Spitfires, Fairchilds, Bostons, Dakotas, Mosquitoes, Sea Otters, Proctors, Ansons, Oxfords and a
Vickers Warwick. At the end of the war, his record stood at eleven confirmed kills and three probables and four damaged. He remained in the RAF post-war, with his last flight in an active squadron on 12 August 1946. He was then posted to the
Central Fighter Establishment to help develop jet fighter tactics for the
Gloster Meteor. ==Later life==