George R. Riley

Who is George R. Riley?

Lieutenant George Raby Riley was a World War I flying ace credited with thirteen aerial victories. He was an ace balloon buster, as well as an ace over enemy aircraft.

Riley was posted to 3 Squadron on his 19th birthday, 23 February 1918. He began his string of aerial successes on 22 March 1918, when he used his Sopwith Camel to drive a German Albatros D.V fighter down out of control. For his next victory five days later, he cooperated with fellow ace Douglas John Bell in destroying a LVG two-seater reconnaissance machine. After he destroyed his first observation balloon on 8 April and another Albatros D.V on the 12th, he was wounded on the 20th.

He would not score again until 8 August. In this second string of victories, he shared some credits with Hazel Wallace and William Maxted. It was with the latter that he scored his fifth balloon victory, and twelfth win overall, by the unusual measure of bombing it into flames while it was on the ground. The day following that, on 28 September 1918, he scored his last victory. In summary, he had destroyed five balloons, two of which were shared with other pilots, as well as destroying two enemy airplanes. He also drove down five enemy planes out of control, and captured one.