George, known as "Pursuit" George to distinguish him from Harold L. George ("Bomber" George), commanded the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional) on Luzon following the attack by Japan on the Philippine Islands, then directed the remnants of the Army's air forces in the Philippine Islands after Far East Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton evacuated to Australia on 24 December 1941.[1]
For six months he instructed other pilots at the Air Service AEF's training center at Issoudun. He then took pursuit pilot and gunnery courses himself and went into combat in August 1918 with the 185th Aero Squadron, and later duty with the 139th Aero Squadron.
George arrived at the 139th Aero Squadron on 18 September 1918.[2] He scored his first two victories on 27 October, near Bantheville, France, he struck a formation of four enemy Fokkers, destroying two and driving the other two away. George shot down a Fokker D.VII single-handed and shared a second win with Robert Opie Lindsay. Two days later, he doubled again, sharing the wins over Fokker D.VIIs with Edward Haight and Karl Schoen. On 5 November, he shared his fifth victory over a D.VII with two other pilots, and became an ace. His Distinguished Service Cross came through after war's end, in 1919[1]
After his return to the United States, George married Vera McKenna, whom he had met in Tours where she was working, on 5 April 1919, in New York City. They had two children, Robert (born 1920) and Peggy (born 1922).
Between wars
After the war he returned to the United States for duty at Langley Field, Virginia. In November 1919 he became flight commander and commanding officer of the 19th Pursuit Squadron at March Field, California, serving until March 1922. During that time he applied for and received a regular Army commission as captain, Air Service, on 1 July 1920, when the Air Service became a combat arm of the line. He went to Fort Douglas, Utah, for three years as Air Service Officer to the 104th Division. He was transferred to the Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field in March 1925, as an instructor for two years, commanding officer of the 43d School Squadron, and chief of pursuit instruction to July 1929.
George commanded an aircraft-ferrying flight to Panama via Mexico and Central America, exactly 20 years after he had flown a DeHaviland plane to the Pacific Coast and return to New York in an early-day transcontinental reliability test flight.
Ceremony at Camp Murphy in Rizal marking the induction of the Philippine Army Air Corps into the U.S. Army on 15 August 1941. George is second from left in the rank behind Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
On 4 May 1941, Brig. Gen. Henry B. Clagett arrived at Manila in the Philippines to command the newly created Philippine Department Air Force. George, promoted to colonel on 9 October 1940, accompanied him as his chief of staff. As the War Department belatedly attempted to expand the defenses in the Philippines, the air forces evolved first into the Air Force, United States Army Forces Far East in August, and then into the Far East Air Force in November 1941. Clagett was named commander of the 5th Interceptor Command (Provisional) and George remained as his chief of staff after a short stint as head of supply for FEAF. When Clagett was sent to Australia in mid-December, George inherited the pursuit command, and when Brereton and a small staff also left on 24 December, George became de facto commander of the remaining Army aviation units and personnel.
George died as a result of a ground accident at Batchelor Field, southeast of Darwin, Australia in late April 1942. George had just arrived at Batchelor on a Lockheed C-40 and was standing near it, when the pilot of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk of the 49th Fighter Group lost directional control on takeoff. The Warhawk collided with the C-40, causing a shower of debris. A wheel from the P-40 reportedly struck George in the head. A junior officer and a US war correspondent, Melvin Jacoby, also died as a result of the same incident.[3]
Although George received immediate medical attention, including treatment by Lt Lawrence Braslow (US Army Medical Corps), he died the following day.[3] His body was returned to the US and buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 26 May 1942.[4]
The USAAF opened George Army Airfield, a flying training base at Lawrenceville, Illinois, in August 1942. The base was declared surplus in September 1945 and sold. Victorville Air Force Base, California, was renamed George Air Force Base in George's honor in June 1950.[1]
