Rachel Meiselman Riley has lived in the Hollin Hall subdivision of the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, Virginia, for most of her life. Her career was spent in environmental health and safety education in private industry and government. She retired from the federal government in 2019, having written technical documents and training curricula, among other activities.
Rachel’s involvement with the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, The Lincoln Forum, and the Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia satisfies her need for history study. A supportive alumna of Fort Hunt High School and George Mason University, she is active in alumni associations and is a member of several genealogical and legacy groups. She is exceedingly grateful for her two grown children, Bill (the coauthor of this book) and Margaret, an attorney. She has three brilliant grandsons.
William Bruce “Bill” Riley spent his childhood in Northern Virginia, with a love of history and engineering. He graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He spent 10 years in the automotive industry near Detroit, Michigan, working at Ford and General Motors. During his time at Ford, he worked in Ford Racing and spent a year abroad in Milton Keynes, England, working with the Jaguar Formula 1 team.
In 2010 he and his wife, Amanda Adams Riley, moved to Southern California, where he has worked for the past 15 years at Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Bill Riley’s passion for history, flight, and engineering provides a great framework to appreciate the rich stories of his Great-Uncle Bill. He will always cherish the time he spent with Bill and his beloved wife, Nita.
Bill also gives back to the Formula SAE event, a collegiate race car series that was influential to him in his college years. He continues to live in Southern California with Amanda and his two sons, James and William. He splits his time regularly between Southern California and the SpaceX facility in Starbase, Texas, having helped found the site, working toward making rockets as routine as making airplanes and building a city on Mars one day.
[Authors’ Note: The jacket that Bill Riley is wearing in the photo is a duplicate of the one that Bill wore. I made the jacket for myself, but he looks so great in it that I passed it on to him. Both jackets were hand-painted with Berlin Express on the back, the 357th Fighter Group patch on the right front, and Bill’s signature on the left front. I am wearing a scarf, a gift to me from Capt. Obee O’Brien, made from silk with a red and yellow checkerboard color scheme, the scheme that appeared on the P-51s flown by the Yoxford Boys, including Bill’s Berlin Express. Obee had a jumpsuit made of this fabric to wear to a reunion, and this was all the fabric that remained. He mailed the remaining fabric to me, and I wear it as a scarf to honor all who served in World War II.]
Questions or comments? Connect with Rachel or Bill at dogfightunderthetower@gmail.com.