Captain Charles Philip Allen (born 3 April 1899 – 6 January 1974) was a British

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

credited with seven aerial victories. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Allen joined the Royal Flying Corps as an officer cadet, and was commissioned as a Temporary Second Lieutenant on 26 September 1917. He was posted to 204 Squadron RAF on 5 April 1918, and shot down seven

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII is a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the '' Fokker-Flugzeugwerke''. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII ...

s between June and November, while flying the

Sopwith Camel The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...

. Allen received two awards from Belgium, being gazetted a ''Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Couronne'' ("Knight of the Order of the Crown") on 8 February 1919, and being awarded the ''

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

'' by His Majesty the King of the Belgians on 15 July 1919.

References

1899 births 1974 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British World War I flying aces Military personnel from Liverpool British recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) {{RAF-bio-stub