On his 100th birthday, war hero gets to pilot a plane again
A combat veteran of two wars, Charles Allen took the controls and soared through the skies for the first time in nearly 50 years.
For his 100th DELAWARE — birthday Wednesday, Charles Delton Allen had one wish
and it came true.
—
With a flight instructor as his co-pilot, the World War II and Vietnam combat veteran flew a plane for the first time since 1969.
This time, no one was shooting at him.
“A little bouncy up there, but I really enjoyed it,” Allen said as he returned to applause at the Delaware Municipal Airport.
Allen’s wish, which he made known in a Dispatch column Sept. 2, caught the eye of Marc Reifeis, a Delaware business consultant who also flies. He contacted Mike Spencer, who operates the Spencer Aviation flight school at the airport, and the two arranged to get Allen back at the controls.
Allen, who still drives, needed a little help maneuvering himself into the tight cockpit of a Cessna 172, but once in the pilot’s seat, he looked as much in command as he must have looked aboard the B-24 and B-52 bombers he flew during wartime.
Flight instructor Chris Ward, who, at 23, is more than three-quarters of a century younger than Allen, said the veteran flew confidently and steadily.
“He held his altitude within 100 feet,” Ward said.
On the half-hour flight, Allen passed over Willow Brook at Delaware Run, the retirement community where he lives — and plays poker every Friday night.
Willow Brook brought a small bus filled with residents to the airport to sing “Happy Birthday” to Allen, see him off and applaud him when he landed.
Later Wednesday, his fellow residents threw a birthday party for him.
“He’s a wonderful, wonderful man,” said Joan Eckhardt, 87. “And today, he’s a hero.”
Allen, an Oklahoma native, served as a B-24 co-pilot on 14 missions during World War II, including one in which he was wounded in a shoulder. On another mission, the bomber ran low on fuel over Yugoslavia and the 11 crew members had to bail out. They spent 42 days evading German forces before being rescued.
After the war, Allen was assigned to the Strategic Air Command, which operated the nation’s nuclear-strike forces during the Cold War. He was stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base (now Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base) for several years. He returned to combat during the Vietnam War, this time flying bombing missions in B-52s.
He retired from the military as a lieutenant colonel in 1971. Helen, his wife of 59 years, died in 2001, and their only child, Douglas, died in 2010 of diabetes complications. His granddaughter and two great-grandchildren live in New York.
The flight Wednesday was the latest of several opportunities he has had as his 100th birthday approached. Admirers arranged for him to be in the co-pilot’s seat in September during a flight at the Marion Air Show, he got to try out a flight simulator in October at NetJets in Columbus, and he was grand marshal in November at the Delaware Veterans Day parade.
Asked about the possibility of another flight on his 101st birthday, Allen said he’s not looking that far into the future.
“I’m just going to go back to Willow Brook and enjoy life.”