The main nationalities in the PFF were the British, the Canadians, the Australians and the New Zealanders, in that order of magnitude. The Dominion Air Forces concerned were the RCAF, the RAAF, and the RNZAF. Dominion aircrew continued to belong to their own Air Force but were under the full operational control of the RAF.
Besides these nationalities, however, there were a number of others. This page will include as many as we can find, as we find them.
GEOFFREY WOOD
see Crew: Emerson
Geoffrey Wood came from Patagonia in Chile and is remembered on the memorial in Punta Arenas Municipal Cemetery.
The inscription is a little difficult to read in the photograph so here it is in full:
In Memory
Of Those From Magallenes
Who Made The Supreme Sacrifice
Whilst Serving With The
British Forces
Magallenes is the Province in Chile covering the land either side of the Straits of Magellan.
Biographical Note: Henry Pye Wood, Geoffrey Wood’s grandfather, emigrated to Chilean Patagonia with his wife and children in 1883 to set up sheep farms in partnership with his brothers and brothers-in-law, (the Patagonian Sheep Farming Company). They had about 1,500,000 acres at Punta Delgarda and at Tierra del Fuego another 900,000 acres, with about half a million sheep in all. Geoffey Walter Wood was born in 1910. Like a lot of British living in South America, the family kept UK passports, and thus it was that Geoffrey Wood volunteered to serve in the RAF during the Second World War. He had no need to do so, and could have remained safely at home.
(With many thanks to Kit Read.)
BILL TREACY
see Crew: Treacy
Bill Treacy was very unusual in that he was an American, who volunteered to fly for the RAF and later transferred to the USAAF, but still flew with the RAF until he had finished his PFF tour.