Harry Wood (aviator)

Major Harry Alison Wood was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories.^[1] He studied civil engineering prewar at Toronto University. After joining the Corps of Guides as a lieutenant, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He trained in the United Kingdom, and joined No. 34 Squadron at Netheravon. He transferred to No. 34 Squadron, then to No. 24 Squadron in early summer of 1916. On 18 June 1916, on his first combat sortie, he attacked four encroaching Germans and broke up their reconnaissance patrol. He went on to down six Germans, and be shot down twice by ground fire. He became a Flight Commander before March 1917, when he was assigned back in England on Home Establishment. He was awarded the Military Cross on 4 June 1917, and promoted to Major in March 1918. After the war ended, he never again set foot in an airplane. He went to work for Canadian National Railway, ending up as Chief of Development. He retired from that post in March 1959. Shortly after joining another firm in Montreal, he died of a heart attack.^[2]

Sources of information

Reference

Above the Trenches Supplement: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces. Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1996. ISBN 1-898697-39-6, 9781898697398