A fascinating Second World War group of five awarded to Flight Lieutenant H. H. Green, Royal Ca...

A fascinating Second World War group of five awarded to Flight Lieutenant H. H. Green, Royal Canadian Air Force, who managed to pursue two careers, as Pilot and as the Star of film, radio and television, including the hugely popular entertainment show Opportunity Knocks, which brought joy and laughter to audiences of up to 18 million and kicked-started the careers of many well-known personalities today

Having survived three extremely close-calls involving mechanical failures over the North Atlantic and an encounter with two Russian MiG Jets who fired upon him in the 'Berlin Corridor', Green nevertheless retained a passion for aviation - and flying boats in particular - his entire life. He later found himself on the front pages of the British Press when it was disclosed that he was the father of television personality Paula Yates

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer's (Brother's) Breast Badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles of cross; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas clasp; War Medal 1939-45, silver issue, mounted as worn, very fine and better (5)

Hugh Hughes 'Hughie' Green was born on 2 February 1920 at Marylebone, London, the son Hugh Aitchison Green of Montreal, Quebec, a former Major in the Canadian Militia who made a small fortune supplying tinned fish to the Allied forces during the Great War and held trademarks issued by the U.S. Patent Office associated with the production of 'smoked haddie' (herrings). Educated at Arnold House Preparatory School in St. John's Wood, Green witnessed the gradual decline of the family business and instead, with his father's encouragement, took his first tentative steps into show business via his godfather, Harry Tate, famous at that time as a music hall entertainer. In fact his first stage appearance was heavy with aviation overtones and couldn't be a more appropriate introduction for a boy who would later be endowed with an ageless joie de vivre for stage and sky; employed hidden in the nose of an aeroplane sketch prop, it was Hughie's job to turn the propeller at a realistic speed!

From this deeply anonymous beginning, his career steadily took hold until in 1933, the Hughie Green Gang made its broadcast debut on the BBC, written, produced and directed by its 13-year-old star. He was the first child to be heard and not seen in Lord Reith's sacred British Broadcasting Corporation, and the success of the show over the airwaves led to a highly acclaimed tour of the U.K. and Canada. In 1935, Green took the starring role in the feature film Midshipman Easy, co-starring Margaret Lockwood, then travelled 'across the pond' to Hollywood where he appeared in the film Tom Brown's School Days. Taking the role of Walker Brooke at Rugby School, Green's performance was well received in this coming-of-age drama about a school plagued with bullies, the most famous of all being 'Flashman', played by a young Billy Halop. Green went on to act in Master of Lassie and then appeared in the evenings at The Coconut Grove with a cabaret act. It was around this time that Hughie fathered his first child at the age of 17 with Vera Hands, a Birmingham usherette.

A Passion for Flight

Hughie's earliest experience of flying had been from a field alongside Edinburgh Zoo when he was about 8 years of age. Having taken private flying lessons, he flew his first solo from Doncaster Aerodrome in a B.A. Swallow on 14 June 1939. Ten weeks later, whilst on tour at Inverness, Green hired a small aeroplane and took a 'jolly' over the dark waters of Loch Ness, but almost as soon as he landed all pleasure flying in Britain was forbidden following the German invasion of Poland and the consequent imminence of war; he may even have made the last purely private flight in the country for over five years!

Initially declined by the R.A.F., Hughie returned to his father's home in Canada with the intention of joining up over there. After 'cooling his heels' in Montreal for weeks without result, he went south to California and notched up the flying hours in Piper Cubs. In May 1941, No. 104851 Aircraftman 2nd Class H. Green was finally called to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force, being trained as a Link Trainer instructor - one of the earliest types of flight simulators. Promoted Sergeant Instructor at Windsor Mills, Quebec, Hughie regarded the time spent on the 'blue box' perfecting the fundamentals of instrument flight as invaluable:

'I learned then how to fly… and to stay alive!'

A Brief Interlude

Next, quite suddenly, Green was sent back to showbusiness and a principal role in a patriotic drama by Guy Bolton titled Golden Wings. The story was based upon the R.A.F.'s war operations, and was intended to generate goodwill towards Britain and a propaganda advantage in the U.S.A. after the fashion of Mrs Miniver; unfortunately for Hughie the Broadway opening precisely coincided with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, which concentrated American thinking overnight on a war of their own; just days later he was back in Canada on the eve of his R.C.A.F. flight training, which culminated in the award of his 'Wings' at Brantford, Ontario, on 19 November 1942.

First Posting

Sent to an Operational Training Unit at Patricia Bay, British Colombia, Green initiated a long and enduring passion for flying boats. Here he learned the arts of an air mariner in the beautiful and elegant Supermarine Stranraer biplanes based there, and actually flew the one now preserved at the R.A.F. Museum, Hendon (Aeroplane Monthly, October 1996, refers). Upon first seeing the aircraft, his instructor and friend, Flight Lieutenant Bill Brooks, is noted to have said to Hughie:

'We could play tunes on its wires - or fly it' (Hughie Green, Flying Boat Captain, refers).

An effective trainer, Green learned air and water handling, take-offs and landings by day and night. Surprisingly, upon being posted to No. 117 Squadron, R.C.A.F., Green found that, whilst the Catalina was a much more capable aeroplane, the second-line service Stranraer aircraft had far superior water handling.

On 9 October 1943, flying Consolidated 'Consa' Catalina 9709 out of North Sydney, Green nearly lost his life on his very first job looking for a submarine spotted the day before. His log book simply notes 'A. S. Sweep', but having conducted an unsuccessful search for the U-Boat he headed back to base, only to be advised that it was closed by swirling snow and that he should divert to Argentia. Unbeknown to Green and his new crew, certain leads in the Catalina's radar had been wrongly connected, and the starboard turn which he made on its indications in fact took him out into the expanse of the North Atlantic:

'After a while he became increasingly worried and, acting contrary to R.C.A.F. instructions in such circumstances, he reduced his airspeed and began to circle. The thick cloud made star bearings impossible, but by great good fortune they managed to tune into a radio signal from a station on the air for the first time and making test transmissions. This shepherded them into Argentina, by then itself weather-threatened, and they landed with the merest splash of fuel in the tanks after 19 hours (sic) in the air' (The Sky's the Limit, Aeroplane Monthly, refers).

According to Green's log book, the flight totalled 11.20hrs, but whatever the case, it had been a fortunate escape. Catalina 9709 was sent for repairs to its radar and wasn't flown again by Green until 31 October 1943. In the meantime, Green conducted a series of Naval co-operation flights aboard Catalina 213, including a search for a Royal Naval swordfish aircraft forced down in the North Atlantic on 23 October 1943.

Meet our Russian Allies!

At the end of 1943, No. 117 Squadron were moved to Ceylon. Rather than remain with his unit, Flight Lieutenant Green transferred with his best friend, Flight Lieutenant Arthur 'Art' P. Teulon Jr. (guest on This is Your Life - see next Lot), to R.A.F. Ferry Command at Dorval, where he flew Liberator aircraft backwards and forwards across the North Atlantic. He transferred military commanders, statesmen and industrialists to South America, Africa and India, and somewhat uniquely, was placed in Command of R.A.F. Station Boucherville, which was equipped with the great bluff Consolidated Coronado flying boats. This is confirmed by a letter from No. 45 Group, R.A.F., posted into Green's log book, noting, 'you will therefore be responsible for the operation of aircraft in and out of the flying boat base as well as the proper and efficient running of the Unit.'

In the summer of 1944, Green had his first meeting with the Russians. A few months previously President Roosevelt had agreed to sell 60 Catalina flying boats, reputedly for just $3 per aircraft, and, having been 'trained' by the U.S. Navy, their somewhat green Russian pilots requested help to take them home:

'In addition to the ferry crew, each aircraft carried a party of apparently uniformly enormous Russians who had no English skills whatsoever, and whose flying skills were somewhat lacking in refinement. In addition, the Russian aircraft had been constructed in U.S. Navy yards and, for some obscure reason, had a modified hull-step design. Although this conferred an additional 7mph to the aircraft's modest maximum speed, it also necessitated very flat touchdowns if severe porpoising was to be avoided.

Such finesse was generally beyond the enthusiastic Russians, one of whom achieved a multiple landing of such thunderous duration that the aircraft had to be beached to enable most of the hull rivets to be replaced' (Aeroplane Monthly, refers).

In an interview conducted with the Aircraft Enthusiast's Group, it was noted:

'Hughie regards the six flights he did with them [the Russians] as his most dangerous moments of the war.'

Looking to the Future: Aviation or Entertainment?

The end of the war found Hughie back in Canada, contemplating the best...