Canadian Forces

1st Allied pilot to fly a captured German plane

projectionist

Mark Henry "Hilly" Brown Canada's 1st Ace of WW2 (14 May 1940) & The 1st Allied pilot to fly a captured German plane in WW2. RAF W/C - DFC & Bar Czech Military Medal & Military Cross, French Croix de Guerre. HILLY'S BUTTON Glenboro Man in R.A.F. Prizes Good Luck Token. With the Royal Air Force in France, April 1, 1940 (CP) — The top button of his tunic is one of the prized possessions of a young Canadian fighter pilot from Glenboro, Manitoba. It gets an extra polish before he goes on daily patrol on the western front. The Canadian, nicknamed Hilly by his brother pilots, told the story of the button the other day. "On the eve of leaving my home in Glenboro and employment in a bank to come to England to join the R.A.F. four years ago, a little fellow I knew ran after me and pleaded with me to take it," he said. "It belonged to his father, a veteran pilot of the last war. "I've kept it ever since and if it's done nothing else it's brought me some luck." Hilly has had several adventures in his Hurricane on the frontier patrol but has emerged from all without a scratch. He won't go anywhere without his button. "During an attack on a Dornier bomber at 25,000 feet my airscrew became fouled and I had to get back with the engine turned off," he said. "Luckily there was no Messerschmitt about and lucky too that my glide just brought me to a French airdrome." The following day Hilly and another pilot attacked a Heinkel. A burst from the Canadian's machine brought the enemy down in flames. He helped too to shoot down another bomber. Hilly has just heard that his young friend—14 now—has joined the Royal Medical service at Kingston, Ont. And he wishes him all kinds of luck. Hilly is Flying Officer Mark Henry Brown, 29-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. S. T. Brown, of Glenboro, Man., who learned to fly at the Brandon Flying club in his spare time as an employee of the Bank of Montreal and joined the R.A.F. in 1936. His sister, Ruby, told the Free Press that Mark was always a lover of sports, especially flying, and could hardly wait after he received his pilot's license at Brandon to go to England. In three months he had passed his pilot officer's examination with honors and in 1938 was promoted to flying officer, she said. Miss Brown admitted she was thrilled to hear of her brother's daring exploits and glad the button was bringing him good luck. "The English boys must have called him Hilly; we just call him Mark," she stated. Mark Henry "Hilly" Brown, Born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, 9 October 1911, Joined the RAF, 11 May 1936, No.1 Squadron, 13 October 1938 to 17 May 1941 Went to Mediterranean, 21 October 1941. Sadly Hilly's lucky button finally failed him as he was Killed In Action over Sicily, 12 November 1941, he was 30 years old.