23 Facts About Lew Allen

Lew Allen entered the United States Military Academy, in 1943, and he graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant.

Lew Allen was awarded his pilot's wings upon his graduation from flight training.

Lew Allen served in various technical positions in the area of nuclear weapons.

Lew Allen attended the Air Tactical Course at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and next he returned to Carswell Air Force Base as a flight instructor and as an assistant Special Weapons Officer for the 7th Bombardment Wing.

In September 1950, Lew Allen entered the University of Illinois for graduate study in nuclear physics.

Lew Allen completed his Master of Science degree in 1952.

Lew Allen continued his graduate study, and he earned his PhD in physics in 1954 under the direction of Alfred O Hanson.

Lew Allen had completed an experimental thesis on high-energy photonuclear reactions.

Lew Allen then was assigned to the US Atomic Energy Commission's Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, as a physicist in the Test Division, where he became acquainted with the bomb designer Ted Taylor.

From June 1957 to December 1961, Lew Allen was assigned to Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, as the science adviser to the Physics Division of the Air Force Special Weapons Center.

Lew Allen was scientific director of a major experiment that utilized a large series of high-altitude rockets to measure the characteristics of electrons trapped in the geomagnetic field after an exoatmospheric nuclear burst.

Lew Allen was assigned in December 1961 to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Space Technology Office, in the Directorate of Research and Engineering, Washington, DC From June 1965 to February 1973, he was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, initially in Los Angeles, California, as the deputy director for advanced plans in the Directorate of Special Projects.

Lew Allen next moved to The Pentagon in June 1968 as the deputy director of space systems, and in June 1969, he became the director.

Lew Allen returned to Los Angeles in September 1970 as the assistant to the director of special projects and in April 1971 became the director of special projects, with additional duty as the deputy commander for satellite programs of the Space and Missile Systems Organization.

Lew Allen served as the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from April 1978 until he became the Chief of Staff of the Air Force in July 1978.

Lew Allen's nomination was unusual in that he had never served in an overseas or combat assignment, and most of his positions were in specialized technical activities, rather than in the usual command structure of the Air Force.

Lew Allen reportedly told a Manned Spaceflight Engineer that he had helped cancel Manned Orbiting Laboratory in the 1960s, and would have canceled the Space Shuttle program.

Lew Allen was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations.

From 1993 to 1995, Lew Allen served as a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the Intelligence Oversight Board.

Lew Allen was awarded the 1999 Distinguished Graduate Award of the Association of Graduates, the alumni association of West Point graduates.

Lew Allen died in Potomac Falls, Virginia, on 4 January 2010, of complications from rheumatoid arthritis.

Lew Allen was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on March 22,2010.

In 1983, Lew Allen received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.