Charles O. Allen Jr., a lifelong pilot who spent much of his time in the sky and was a former manager of Greenwood-Leflore Airport, has died.
Mr. Allen, 89, passed away from respiratory failure Tuesday at South Sunflower County Hospital in Indianola.
A graveside service was held at 10 a.m. today at Odd Fellows Cemetery in Greenwood, with four World War II vintage Navion aircraft flying over the cemetery in the missing man formation.
Mr. Allen was born Nov. 11, 1927, in Sunflower County and moved to Greenwood in the 1940s. He began to learn how to fly at the Pickens airport and continued to fly until he was around 85.
Mr. Allen began his aviation career in the ’60s when he operated an aircraft radio shop with Archer Aviation. In 1979, he took over as manager of Greenwood-Leflore Airport, a job he held until he retired in 2003.
“Charlie was great to work for. He never got excited, and he could do more than most men half his age,” said Ed Pitcock, chief of the Greenwood air traffic control tower, in an interview with Allan Hammons. “At age 82, he was busy wiring all the electronics in the new control tower. He was up and down the stairs and crawling around on his hands and knees. They just don’t make ’em like Charlie anymore.”
Under his management, the airport lengthened runway 18/36, did construction on the Federal Administration Aviation Automated Flight Service Station and the air traffic control tower and brought in new business such as GE Capital Aviation Services, Hammons said.
“Without Charles’ knowledge and dedication, much of the growth of the Greenwood-Leflore Airport would simply not have happened,” Hammons said. “He was a dear friend and a truly impressive man who will be missed by all who knew him.”
Retirement didn’t deter Mr. Allen from working on airplanes. He set up a repair operation at the airport for local and outside aircraft.
Waymon Bankston, who worked with Mr. Allen for several years, said in an interview with Hammons that Mr. Allen was “one of a kind and a good friend.”
“He had a huge knowledge base that he was always willing to share. I will truly miss him and his great Navion stories,” Bankston said.
Hammons said Mr. Allen had many skills and interests including radio repair and electrical work and once worked as ham radio operator whose call sign was KA5TQY.
Grady Perkins, the current Greenwood-Leflore Airport manager, who knew Mr. Allen for almost 60 years, said in an interview with Hammons that Mr. Allen was very smart and skilled and did “remarkable work with his hands.”
“Charlie was a truly remarkable person,” Perkins said. “Despite a physical handicap that would have been a major disability to most, he never seemed to notice. He performed tasks using those hands requiring skills well beyond average. He got along very well with people, and most he met soon became his friend.”
Mr. Allen was very involved with the Southwest Navion Air Group and could often be seen flying his 1946 North American Navion, 613CA. The group would hold fly-ins, in which members would meet at different locations in different cities and fly together.
Friend and pilot Stephen Jennings said he met Mr. Allen while learning to fly and had helped him with maintenence work. Mr. Allen and Jennings had flown together for one of the group’s national conventions.
“One year I went with him, and we flew all the way to Cody, Wyoming. It took eight hours, and we did it one day,” Jennings said. “It was tough, but it was fun. He opened up a whole new world to me of aviation.”
Bob Swanzy of Cotton Belt Aviation first met Mr. Allen in 1947 when the two began flying together with the Navion Group. They traveled all over the country together to places such as Tennessee, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky and New Mexico.
“He was always willing to help you with your plane, and he would install radios in the early days. He an excellent repairman,” Swanzy said.
Mr. Allen and Swanzy would do repairs together, and Swanzy, a former air crewman in the Navy, said their work complemented each other. At one point his life, Swanzy lived in Natchez and would call Mr. Allen to fly down there and visit him on weekends.
“We would work on the airplane and just be as happy as can be,” Swanzy said.
Hammons said Mr. Allen had many other passions in life, such as collecting old cars. He had several restored Packards and later developed an affection for old Chevrolet Corvettes.
He also was a former member of the Civil Air Patrol, Greenwood Lions Club and Greenwood Elks Club. He was a trumpet player and a former member of the Greenwood Community Concert Band.
He is survived by a niece, Ann Labella of Indianola, and many friends.
•Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
