In what turned out to be their final flight, Colorado vintage airplane enthusiasts Dave and Jeanne Allen were in a 1934 biplane that at one time carried the Ohio governor around to events during the Great Depression.
The Allens crashed in a Kansas field on June 30 in the shiny, teal vintage Waco plane that they lovingly restored every single day for a decade mostly back to its original condition — with a new fuel-injected engine. Law enforcement officials say both died from impacts caused by the crash.
Friends of the couple, who gathered at a pancake “fly-in” near their home over the weekend, said they were like a set of parents to the small, avid group of vintage airplane enthusiasts across the country.
They mentored new hobbyists wanting to learn about restoring planes and had contagious excitement about obtaining vintage aircraft — even wearing vintage clothes that matched their vintage planes.
“They set a wonderful example. They were the parents and all of us were the kids,” said Jim Norman, a neighbor at Kelly Airpark, an enclave of homes in Elbert that allow hangars so owners can keep planes on their properties. “It is like losing a parent.”
Dave Allen, 78, and Jeanne Allen, 79, were born in California. They moved to Colorado in the 1960s and Dave attended the Air Force Academy, graduating in 1968. He was dating Jeanne at the time and delayed getting married because he expected to deploy to Vietnam but was never called to duty.
The couple got married and remained in the Colorado Springs area where Allen stayed on as an Air Force reservist and was a commercial airline pilot, first for Western Airlines and then for United. Jeanne, an aviation enthusiast before she dated Dave, also got a glider pilot license. They had two sons and a young granddaughter.
While working, Dave immersed himself in competitive flying and Jeanne was his “ground crew” — going with him everywhere, sometimes bringing along their then-small boys, according to a 2022 SportAviation magazine article about the couple.
“Aviation is my passion,” Dave told the magazine. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
As they moved into retirement, they sought out land where they could build a community of people who loved planes as much as they did. In 1987, they were the first settlers on a scratchy, dusty piece of land in Elbert – an old potato farm that they were determined to develop into a residential airpark.
The Allens bought the first six lots and worked with a developer to launch the community, neighbors said.
As the Kelly Airpark developed, the Allens researched the land and botany at the time to successfully grow and maintain soft grass so those with vintage planes could land on that versus gravel or concrete. Landing on grass is like “landing on a cloud” in an old plane, said Kelly resident Jamie Treat.
Friends of the couple say they were together constantly and shared everything, including an email address and a cell phone number.
“When we talk about Dave, we don’t talk about just Dave, it’s Dave and Jeanne,” said Jim Baker, a neighbor at Kelly Airpark. “They were a real team, they were attached at the hip.”
It was Jeanne, though, who was the stickler for detail when restoring planes. She worked tirelessly to find the age-appropriate finishings for all their planes, neighbors said, including tracking down a weaver who would refurnish the cream-colored seats of the teal blue 1934 Waco with gold pinstriping.
They also got the accurate “Ohio National Guard” seal painted on the side of the plane to harken back to the initial owner, the state of Ohio. The plane flew around top state executives during the Dust Bowl, including the governor, according to Vintage Aircraft magazine.
The Allens had five flying planes, with more in some part of a restoration process. But they were best known internationally for their Wacos, most made in the 1930s in Ohio and pronounced Wock-Oh.
What drew the Allens to the Waco planes?
“Oh I think it was the romance of the period,” said Jim Norman, a family friend. “They’re beautiful airplanes, they have a huge following. The lines of the aircraft are gorgeous.”
The teal beauty Waco YKC they were flying the day they crashed and died was known internationally for its restoration and craftsmanship. It won best of show in every contest the Allens ever entered and was voted the Antique Airplane Association and the Airpower Museum’s 2013 Antique Grand Champion.
The Allens were at a Waco gathering in Ohio the last weekend of June and were heading back to Elbert in the teal plane when their friends suspect they hit weather in Kansas.
The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed the crash investigation and should have an initial report out within a week or two, with a final report coming out within a year or two, a spokesperson said.
“We don’t know why they ended up in a field,” Jim Baker said.
Norman agreed.
“It is true, we all have our own speculative theory that we won’t share but that wouldn’t be fair,” he said.
