Derek Allen, WWII Flying Ace, Found 71 Years After Crash

History.com - After 71 years, a British historian has located the final resting place for a heroic young Royal Air Force pilot who was listed as missing in action and presumed dead in May 1940 during World War II.

According to British newspaper the Telegraph, 22-year-old Flying Officer Derek Allen took to the skies for his first time in combat on May 10, 1940, the day that Germany launched its invasion of France and the Low Countries. Over the next eight days, Allen shot down four enemy aircraft himself and shared credit for three other downed planes. He would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his performance. Forced to bale out on May 15 after his Hurricane plane was hit with anti-aircraft fire, Allen walked for 24 hours through enemy territory in order to get back to his squadron.

About 6:30 a.m. on May 18, Allen was back in the air when a German gunner shot his plane down over farmland in northern France. By that time, German tanks and infantry had already managed to break the French defensive lines; they would soon advance to the coast. On May 26, the RAF provided much-needed protection from the sky as Allied forces were evacuated en masse from the French seaport of Dunkirk to England. Paris fell to the Germans on June 14, and defeated, France signed an armistice on July 22.

When Allen’s parents were first told their son was missing in action, it was hoped that he might have been captured by the Germans and still be alive. Much later in the war, a RAF adjutant visited to tell them his plane had crashed and he was presumed dead. When the war ended in 1945, Derek Allen was one of 40,000 missing British airmen.

For more from History.com, click here to read the full story.

NOTE: It has been noted that the word "bale" is used above instead of "bail." The spelling provided is simply an alternative as chosen by the History.com editor.

Also on HuffPost:

Below, see photos of WWII memorials:

Comments

[Jan Badinski]

04:11 AM on 02/20/2012

I was offended by the White Power link, the first one. Just couldn't get past the source.

[Jan Badinski]

03:49 AM on 02/20/2012

I hate war.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

12:32 PM on 02/19/2012

Many comments here complain about the failure to include the location of Derek Allen's remains. And rightfully so. By going to the link in the article, one reads this: '...evidence convinced the RAF Historical Branch to look deeper into their files for Allen’s old records, and eventually they confirmed that his body was buried in an unmarked grave in the village of Poix-de-Nord, near Cambrai.' People who love history like to get the full story, including important details. We also love maps and photographs when they are available. This article would have been much more interesting with a map locating Poix-de-Nord, and a picture of Derek Allen. But I have come to expect superficiality from reporting here about history and especially from the so-called History.com.

[3dtrix]

11:22 PM on 02/19/2012

All such stories here are lifted from other news bureaus - none originate here...

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

10:15 AM on 02/20/2012

3dtrix, That may be true, but it does not excuse incomplete reporting, i.e. 'who, what, when, where, why and how.

[TroopAbn]

10:38 AM on 02/19/2012

I met an Army Air Corps (Ace) by the name of Benjamin Drew. It was over 40 years that he reported his kills and no-one believed him, as he had no witnesses. Finally, someone in Germany that had seen him knock the 2 aircraft (jets) down with his Mustang-P51, that the Pentagon gave him his medal.

I too, would like to know "where" this hero was shot down. Why doesn't the article say?

[BurritoT]

12:54 AM on 02/18/2012

Flying Ace? He lasted less than 2 years into the war, how could he have been an Ace? Geez.

[bloomd]

01:03 AM on 02/18/2012

The Ace title was awarded on the amount of enemy aircraft shot down. I counted 7 in the story in 4 days. I didn't see the total. I wonder in this age of drones if we will still have that title

[samuraifrog37]

07:12 AM on 02/18/2012

Well...we still have fighter pilots in Navy Airforce Army Marines....So I would think so....The Talaban Airforce has shot down many allied warbirds....Afganistans many tribal airforces have been fighting each other for hundreds of years and are very combat experienced and have kept western air planes mostly on the ground....

[Bienville]

01:58 PM on 02/20/2012

I would think the remote pilots of the drones would be awarded the victories, just as if they were in the planes. Equally so if the downed aircraft were also remotely piloted.

[samuraifrog37]

07:18 AM on 02/18/2012

Yeah!! How could he be? What gives? Their pullin our legs!! No way No how !!!! It's not possible are 2 years in combat fliying hundreds of missions each year that ANYONE could shoot down Six planes....Geez...incomprehensible ! Never ever no way could that happen.......could it??

[BurritoT]

07:21 AM on 02/18/2012

lo, gee wiz I was only trying to make lite of the lame work done on the article... in no way do I want to truly take away from his contributions. He certainly was a warrior, and helped save his country.

[CommonSensible]

12:10 AM on 02/18/2012

Thanks for not bothering to tell us where and how the body was found. Oopsy!

[MilesToGo]

11:45 AM on 02/19/2012

You merely have to click on to the link at the end of the introductory comments. It's a History.com link & story.

[deserthome17]

12:02 AM on 02/18/2012

Uh, so where was the body found? An old grave, a newly churned field, a rusted tangle in a patch of woods, the old bedroom of a farmer's daughter? Might be a central piece of the story, right?

[MilesToGo]

11:46 AM on 02/19/2012

There's a link at the end of the introductory remarks. Merely click onto it for more details.

[Donald Dunn]

11:58 PM on 02/17/2012

To all you
inattentive readers who are complaining about the use of the word "bale" and the lack of further details in the story -- and blaming the HuffPost writer or editor -- you quite obviously are unaware that the "story" here is the opening paragraphs picked up word for word (and bale for bale) from the History.com site and is clearly labelled "For more...click here to read the FULL story.) Even the best writer/editor such as myself has trouble with readers who probably move their lips as they read and cannot wait to rush to the keyboard to show how much smarter they are than the person who put the words on the screen!

[Midnightphilosopher]

03:56 AM on 02/18/2012

Copying something "word for word" is a sorry excuse for poor spelling. When did being good enough become good enough. Pathetic.

[MilesToGo]

11:49 AM on 02/19/2012

It must be so dark at midnight that you're unable to read, making philosophy pretty hard.

[cdkn4]

11:40 PM on 02/17/2012

Now he can rest in peace in his home land. God bless him.

[Xtina Scan]

11:13 PM on 02/17/2012

It has been noted that the history.com editor hasn't mastered English. It has also been noted that HuffPost doesn't emply proofreaders, merely spin doctors.

[Donald Dunn]

11:36 PM on 02/17/2012

Emply???

[kseeber]

11:57 PM on 02/17/2012

It's always funny when a person criticizing someone else's editing skills makes a sloppy typo.

[lexigram]

01:56 PM on 02/18/2012

In the olden days we called that instant karma.

[Xtina Scan]

01:52 PM on 02/21/2012

Yeah, ya got me. I screwed up. My bad! Please note, however, that unlike HuffPost, I can admit the mistake. ;-)

[jrp1947]

10:31 PM on 02/17/2012

then you read the piece where the producer bought all of those planes (over 100) and had the 34th largest air force in the world when he made that film. It never said what he did with those planes later on. May this fallen warrior rest in peace for his sacrifice.

[Bienville]

02:06 PM on 02/20/2012

The 34th AF in the world is Switzerland with 226 aircraft.
http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=Switzerland

With only about 100, that moviemaker would be somewhere in the 50s, with Kuwait and Lebanon.

[Bikerchk]

10:24 PM on 02/17/2012

What's the matter Huff Post reviewer? Did my criticism hit a little too close to home for you? You don't like people pointing out that your writers are hacks who more than likely flunked out of high school and probably can't get a job anywhere else? Look! I went to the London Telegraph, and miracle of miracles, I found what your writer should have added to the story.

Andy Saunders began researching the case.
He discovered FO Allen's body had been removed from his wrecked plane on May 18 by locals and buried in an unmarked grave in the village of Poix-de-Nord, near Cambrai.

Hack.

[reagun1]

10:14 PM on 02/17/2012

May God rest his soul.

[jazzman001x]

10:12 PM on 02/17/2012

It`s funny because I just bought the video Battle of Britain last night and watched it. With Christopher Plummer, Suzanne York.....and several other stars.......excellent film from 1962.....they actually had many of the Heinkel111`s in flight for the movie and the ME109`s. The Spitfirs were awsome and the aerial photgraphy was superb for the day. They don`t make movies like that anymore!!!!!

[jazzman001x]

10:08 PM on 02/17/2012

The French had a defense?.......I thought they just rolled over and the Gerry`s ran in?????

[BIGBUFFB52]

10:30 PM on 02/17/2012

Yes they had a defense but it wasn't designed for the type of attack Germany used. That is the problem with any defense, it is never as flexible as offense.

[jazzman001x]

11:03 PM on 02/17/2012

I was being sarcastic