Raymond D. Allen: Flying WWII Veteran Still in the Air Today

By Herb Foreman

Ray Allen with his group of 10.Not many pilots have more flying time from the San Carlos Airport in Northern California than Ray Allen. Born in San Francisco and a graduate from the prestigious Lowell High School, he was at the right age to participate in World War II. Initially, color blindness kept him out of the Air Corps Academy and he began his career as a mechanic at Stockton Field in San Joaquin County on Oct. 28, 1942. After pestering his officers and taking new tests, he was admitted to the “cadet program” as a bombardier and navigator. He attended gunnery school and learned how to strip a 50-caliber machine gun blindfolded. He learned both celestial and dead reckoning navigation and after 105 hours of instruction joined a B-17 crew bound for Europe.

Upon arriving in Europe, Ray joined a veteran B-17 crew stationed at Thurleight, six miles north of Bedfordshire, the 306th Bomb Group. Ray was assigned to the 368th Squadron that called themselves the “Clay Pigeon Air Force” because of the great number of planes lost in combat. They were to lose 60 during the conflict. Of the 600 crew members, 450 were killed in action – 75 percent. It was a heavy loss.

Ray Allen poses in his bomber jacket at the Sky Kitchen in San Carlos, California.Ray completed 35 missions with a total flight time of 550 hours in four months of intensive action – 286 combat hours. In addition to the combat hours, they flew many training flights practicing formation flying, gunnery and navigation. The American crews had to learn the English methods of navigation, signals, radar, etc.

Can you imagine a sky filled with 2,000 heavy bombers in the air at the same time? In addition, there were the same number of twin engine aircraft (B-25s and B-26s) along with 1,500 fighters. Think of it, more than 5,000 planes in trail on their way to Berlin! There were also a great numbers of enemy aircraft attempting to stop them. This is astounding to those of us flying today!

The missions that Ray flew included front line bombing in France, as well as strikes at Magdeberg, the coal fields at Mersberg from which Germany derived synthetic oil, Leipzeig and Hamburg – 23 Ray Allen’s recently painted Cessna 336.target cities in all. Many were attacked three or four times. On his first mission to Mersberg, his B-17 lost two engines and the hydraulic lines to the brakes were severed by flak. The red brake fluid spurted out covering his head and flight suit. The bombardier reported to the captain that Ray’s head had been blown off.

Ray’s knowledge of mechanics may have saved their lives! The crew in the front of the plane used an empty gallon can to urinate in on long flights. Ray grabbed the brake lines and stuck them into the can of urine, sucking it into the system. Upon landing, the pilot waited until the last moment before applying the brakes. The “golden” liquid stopped the plane just in time! When the Captain released the pedal, the urine spurted back into the cabin through the broken return line. It was a bit odorous but they all survived.

At the age of 20, Ray received the DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross). A month after he had completed his 35 missions, his plane called The Rose of York, dedicated by Princess (now Queen) Elizabeth was lost over the English Channel. None of the crew survived.

It was not the end of the way for Ray. After a brief furlough to San Francisco, he was assigned to Ferry Command in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The battle for Japan’s surrender was still raging. New Guinea and the Philippines had been retaken but there was still Okinawa, Iwo Jima and the Atom Bomb ahead.

One of his first flights was as the navigator on a C-47 from Long Beach to the small island of Biak off the coast of Eastern New Guinea. After a viscous battle, U.S. Forces cleared it of the Japanese troops and established a field hospital and supply dump there. To my surprise, I discovered Ray and I were there at the same time – July 1945.

It’s a small world! I was assigned as a 1st Scout in an Infantry Company of the 43rd Division during WWII. After we had taken our last objective on the Island of Luzon in the Philippines, I spent two days cutting bamboo to build a rest camp before we moved on to another battle. I contracted blood poisoning in my hands from the sharp thorns of the bamboo and took a trip on a hospital ship from Manila to Biak to recover. Of course, I did not know Ray and only found this out 67 years later.

Ray made a number of trips across the broad waters of the Pacific before the last gun had been fired in the conflict that, according to Tom Brokaw, produced the greatest generation yet on planet Earth.

Ray owns a Cessna 336 with non-retracting wheels and is still flying today. He considers it one of the best Cessnas ever produced. He has more than 2,000 hours in it. A recent paint job makes it a stand out. Hopefully, another chapter in this man’s busy life can be produced soon.