The Hurricane and Spitfire - two of the finest aircraft ever to defend Great Britain.

Signed by Philip West and two Battle of Britain pilots

This is the smallest edition ever sold by us! The publisher has now sold out - WE HAVE ONLY A FEW COPIES LEFT.

Only 25 copies of this stunning painting have been reproduced using special, very high quality paper, each print is double mounted (not illustrated) and they will be delivered flat.

Overall size Double Mounted approx. 24.25" x 17”

Flying Officer T W (Terry) Green was trained by the United States Army in Georgia and Alabama. He was awarded his wings in March 1942 and joined 501 Sqdn at Middle Wallop later that year. He was posted overseas when 501 were rested in Northern Ireland. He joined 232 Sqdn in North Africa in March 1943 and stayed with them through Tunisia on to Malta to cover the invasion of Sicily and then on to Sicily to cover the invasion of Italy at Salerno. The Sqdn then flew their Spitfires some 2,500 miles to the north of Syria on the Turkish border to cover what Churchill called the invasion of “the soft underbelly of Europe”. Since this was aborted they moved us back to Corsica to cover the invasion of the south of France at Frejus. They stayed in France until September 1944 where the Sqdn was disbanded after handing over their Spitfires to the Free French Air Force.
Finally, Terry was posted to 1675 Heavy Conversion Unit at Abu Sueir, Egypt for fighter affiliation duties with aircrews converting from twins to B24 Liberators.
He was demobilised in June 1945 and carried on as a weekend flyer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve at Woodley and Fairoaks until 1952.

Wing Commander H E Tappin DFC started flying as an NCO pilot with the RAFVR at No 3 E & RFTS run by Air Service Training at Hamble near Southampton in April 1937. He was awarded the Pilot’s Flying Badge (wings) in May 1938 and moved to 26 E & RFTS run by Marshall’s Flying School at Kidlington, near Oxford in September 1938. After completing a Flying Instructor’s Course, he started instructing in December 1938. The Kidlington school closed at the outbreak of hostilities and the staff were moved to 22 EFTS at Cambridge, where he instructed until April 1941. It was here that he taught Johnnie Johnson to fly. He was then posted to 52 OTU (Hurricane) at Debden. He had been commissioned in December 1940.

He was posted to 3 Squadron (Hurricane) at Martlesham Heath in June 1941 and became Flight Commander in March 1942. On one sortie in August 1942 whilst attacking Dieppe, the port tank of his Hurricane was shot through but he was still able to return and land safely in England, for which he was subsequently awarded the DFC. He was posted to 534 Squadron (Turbinlite) as a Hurricane Flight Commander in September 1942 and then to 157 Squadron (Mosquito) at Castle Camps and became Flight Commander in July 1943.

His next posting was to 51 OTU at Cranfield and Twinwood Farm near Bedford, as W/Cdr Flying and in January 1945 was posted to the Mediterranean to command 108 Squadron (Beaufighters) only to learn that the Squadron was to be disbanded. He spent a short period with 334 (Special Duties) Wing at Brindisi and in March 1945 was posted to Command 256 Squadron (Mosquito) with the Desert Air Force at Forli in Northern Italy. In September 1945 the Squadron moved to Egypt, from where he returned to Cambridge to continue his work with Marshall's as a civilian pilot. He left Cambridge in January 1961 to instruct at The College of Air Training at Hamble, which had been set up by BEA and BOAC to train new pilots. He retired from Hamble in January 1972.

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