World War I When the United States entered
World War I, he enlisted in the
US Army Signal Corps as a lieutenant. He initially served as an instructor pilot but then was sent to the British flight test center in England to learn flight testing techniques. Before the armistice in November 1918, he returned to the US Army's flight test center at
McCook Field, Ohio, to apply his flight experience and overseas observations. After the armistice, he became the first test pilot for the
National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics at
Langley Field, Virginia. In 1919, he returned to the
University of Illinois for a year and then studied aeronautical engineering for two years at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Between the wars In 1922 Allen designed and built the
Allen AES-1 and
Allen AES-2 gliders, with E.P. Warner and
Otto C. Koppen, at the
Aeronautical Engineering Society in
New York. From 1923 to 1925, he worked as a freelance test pilot and also worked as a civilian test pilot at McCook Field. From July 1925 to mid-1927, he flew rebuilt
de Havilland DH-4s as an airmail pilot for the Post Office Department over the treacherous Rocky Mountain routes between Cheyenne and Salt Lake City, sometimes under extremely adverse conditions. On 1 September 1927, when the
Post Office got out of the flying business, Allen joined
Boeing Air Transport, flying
Boeing 40As as an airmail pilot on their new Chicago to San Francisco run. Over the next five years he began to do more and more test flying, particularly for
Boeing Airplane Company, an affiliate of the Boeing Air Transport which later became
United Airlines. In 1929, Allen was one of several pilots, including
Melvin N. Gough,
William H. McAvoy, and Thomas Carroll, NACA trained "in stability and control research techniques, including the ability to reach and hold equilibrium flight conditions with accuracy. As with all good research test pilots, the NACA group worked closely with flight test engineers and in fact took part in discussing NACA's flying qualities work with outsiders. All of this helped lay the groundwork for the comprehensive flying qualities research that followed." By 1932, Allen was a highly respected independent test pilot and consulting aeronautical engineer. •
Boeing Monomail (22 May 1930) •
Northrop Beta (3 March 1931) •
Stearman 80 (10 April 1933) •
Douglas DC-2 (11 May 1934) •
Sikorsky XPBS-1 (14 August 1937) •
Boeing XB-15 (15 October 1937) and the
Consolidated XPB2Y-1.
World War II In April 1939, Boeing gave Allen a permanent position as the head of the company's Research Division, and direct charge of all flight testing and of aerodynamics and wind tunnel research. In this position, he made the first flights of the: •
Boeing Stearman X-100 (XA-21; 25 January 1939) •
Boeing XPBB Sea Ranger (9 June 1942) Even his position at Boeing did not stop the Army Air Force from borrowing Allen for the first flight of the
Lockheed C-69 Constellation on 9 January 1943. He also piloted the first flight of the
Curtiss-Wright CW-20 on 26 March 1940. He also formed a dedicated flight-test and aeronautical research organization at Boeing and insisted that the company develop its own high-speed wind tunnel, an idea directly responsible for Boeing being in position to take the leadership in the development of large swept-wing jets.
B-29 Superfortress crash As the United States became involved in
World War II, Boeing was awarded a contract to build one of the most technologically advanced airplanes of the war, the
B-29 Superfortress. On 21 September 1942, Allen took the first XB-29 on its initial flight and continued as the program's chief pilot. The second prototype first flew on 30 December, this flight being terminated due to a serious engine fire. While fighting the fire in the packing plant, a city fireman was overcome by fumes and succumbed, bringing the death toll to 29. ==Legacy==