Posted by J. F. Smith on May 7, 2000:

Friday, August 14, 1992 GENERAL JAMES RODGERS ALLEN DIES AIR FORCE FIGHTER PILOT James Rodgers Allen, 66, a retired Air Force general who was a fighter pilot in two wars, a superintendent of the Air Force Academy and a commanding general of the Military Airlift Command, died of cancer Aug. 11 at Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base. A resident of Alexandria, Gen. Allen was born in Louisville. He began his military career in 1943 as a private in the Army. In 1944, he was appointed a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point N.Y. He graduated in the class of 1948 and was commissioned in the Air Force. After pilot training,he was stationed with a fighter group in the Philippines. When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, he joined a volunteer squadron serving with the South Korean air force and flew P-51 fighter planes in combat. He later was an aide to the commanding general of the 5th Air Force in Korea. From 1951 to 1965, Gen. Allen had various assignments in the United States and Germany. He served on the faculty at West Point, graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and received a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University. From 1965 to 1967 he was deputy commander for operations of the 12th Tactical Fighteer Wing at Camranh Bay in South Vietnam. He flew F-4C fighter fighter-bombers on combat missions. Gen. Allen spent the next three years in plans and operations posts at Air Force Headquarters in Washington. He was the principal planner of a combined Air Force-Army raid on a prisoner-of-war camp at Son Tay, North Vietnam, where it was believed Americans were being held. The operation, which involved landing Army troops from helicopters, went off without a hitch, but no prisoners were found. In 1974 Genersl Allen was appointed as superintendent of the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, a post that is considered one of the most important jobs in the Air Force. He served in that position for three years. Promoted to general in 1977, he was named chief of staff at NATO headquarters in Brussels. From 1979 to 1981, he was deputy commander of the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. He then returned to the United States and headed Military Airlift Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois until he retired in 1981. Gen. Allen's military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, three awards of the Legion of Merit, two awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and 12 awards of the Air Medal. While serving at the Air Force Academy, he received an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Denver. After he retired General Allen settled in the Washington area and was named president of the International Planning and Analysis Center, a consulting company in the field of international trade. He was vice chairman of the firm when he died. Gen. Allen was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the National Presbyterian Church. Survivors include his wife of 40 years, Kathryn A. "Kitty" Allen of Alexandria; a daughter Kathryn Lewis Allen of Alexandria; a son, Jeffery Rogeers Allen of Richmond, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia Air National Guard; a sister, Susan Frantz of Pittsburgh, and three grandchildren.

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