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| Allen at the controls of a B-17. |
✈ Works as a freelance test pilot in the 1920s, and is the first to fly famous aircraft like the Douglas DC-1, the Curtiss C-46 Commando, and Boeing's 307 Stratoliner. Becomes known as "the dean of test pilots."
✈ Takes an apartment in The Woodstock in the late 1930s, and is the subject of a profile in Tudor City View, the neighborhood gazette. Some excerpts:
Mr. Allen is at the top of the test-flying field, and takes them all on, from the tiniest pursuit plane to the mammoth craft that seemingly outwit all laws of gravitation. . . He spends days, and sometimes weeks, on the ground with a plane before taking it aloft. . . His practical experience and technical knowledge take a certain amount of risk out of test-hopping, and he can size a plane up and know whether to take it aloft or walk away from it. This latter alternative doesn't happen often.
✈ Appointed head of Boeing's Research Division in 1939, in charge of all flight testing. After America enters World War II, Boeing is awarded a contract to build the most technologically advanced airplane of the time, the B-29 Superfortress. Allen will be the first to fly it.
✈ On February 18, 1943, he is maneuvering the Superfortress over Seattle when an engine fire breaks out. He makes a desperate run for Boeing Field, but the aircraft crashes into a nearby meatpacking plant, killing Allen, his eight-member crew and 19 people on the ground. The aviation community is stunned, and the disaster a major setback for the war effort.
Allen is later honored with posthumous awards for his contributions to aviation, including the Distinguished Flying Cross from President Truman.
Mr. Allen is at the top of the test-flying field, and takes them all on, from the tiniest pursuit plane to the mammoth craft that seemingly outwit all laws of gravitation. . . He spends days, and sometimes weeks, on the ground with a plane before taking it aloft. . . His practical experience and technical knowledge take a certain amount of risk out of test-hopping, and he can size a plane up and know whether to take it aloft or walk away from it. This latter alternative doesn't happen often.
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| Allen in front of The Woodstock, with a sign for the Tudor City Rental Office behind him. |
✈ On February 18, 1943, he is maneuvering the Superfortress over Seattle when an engine fire breaks out. He makes a desperate run for Boeing Field, but the aircraft crashes into a nearby meatpacking plant, killing Allen, his eight-member crew and 19 people on the ground. The aviation community is stunned, and the disaster a major setback for the war effort.
Allen is later honored with posthumous awards for his contributions to aviation, including the Distinguished Flying Cross from President Truman.
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