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The Charles Green Salver was presented to Charles Green, the most famous British aeronaut of the nineteenth century, by a grateful passenger. The original inscription reads:

"Presented to Mr C Green by his friend Richard Crawshay to commemorate their ascent from the city of Norwich, October 16th 1839."

The balloon illustrated on the salver, and presumably the one in which Mr Crawshay made his flight, was Green's most famous. It was built in 1836 as the Royal Vauxhall balloon and in November of that year made the first long distance flight by flying overnight from the Vauxhall Gardens in London to Nassau in Germany.

To commemorate this feat the balloon was renamed The Great Nassau Balloon and flown by Green for some years afterwards. Another notable flight of this balloon took place on 24th July 1837 when it was used to lift the unfortunate Mr Cocking with his parachute invention before his fatal descent. Green made more than 500 ascents in his career, his last being in 1852. He died in 1870 at the age of ninety-five.

The salver had passed by bequest into the hands of the Royal Aero Club which was formed in September 1901. In the mid 1980s it was about to be declared part of its surplus silverware and sold to raise funds. Don Cameron was the BBAC representative at the Royal Aero Club at that time, and proposed that it would be much better used as a trophy for ballooning achievement. The RaeC Council agreed and sold it for £1,000 (less than half its true value) to the BBAC.

The Green Salver has been the premier award of the BBAC since then and is given only for exceptional flying achievements or services to ballooning. Recipients have been: