Derrick Riley was born in
Matlock in
Derbyshire, and educated at
King's School Ely and
Haileybury College. In 1932 he became a management trainee in the steel industry. He was interested in archaeology and did six seasons of fieldwork in
Lincolnshire before the outbreak of the second world war. At the outbreak of war, he joined the
Royal Air Force and served in
Bomber Command. He was promoted to the rank of
Squadron Leader in 1944 and awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross in June 1944 for his part in a mine laying operation. While flying over the
Thames Valley and the Fens he took the opportunity to observe archaeology from the air, and this led to the publication of his first articles on
aerial photography. His 1946 paper on
The Technique of Air-Archaeology was recognised as founding the methodology of
aerial archaeology. After the war he returned to the steel industry and was a production manager for the
British Steel Corporation in
Stocksbridge until his early retirement in 1977. == Aerial archaeology ==