Charles Phillip Allen was born in Liverpool on 3rd April 1899, the son of Herbert P Allen, variously described as an organist, teacher of music, or ‘professor of singing’. On or around his birth the family were living at 32 Falkner Street L8, later moving (1911 census) to 33 Huskisson Street L8.
Little more is known about his early life but after joining the Royal Flying Corps as an officer cadet on 26 September 1917 he was commissioned as a Temporary Second Lieutenant, aged just 18. On 5 April 1918 he was posted to 204 Squadron RAF and between 29th June and 4th November astonishingly shot down 7 Fokker D VII’s flying a Sopwith Camel. This extraordinary feat earned Allen two awards from Belgium, being gazetted a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Couronne ("Knight of the Order of the Crown") on 8 February 1919, and being awarded the Croix de Guerre by His Majesty the King of the Belgians on 15 July 1919.
Of his life after the war the evidence is slim. It does seem likely that he studied medicine as a The Scotsman shows a Charles Phillip Allen MC ChB Liverpool Univ. admitted to Royal College of Surgeons Liverpool in 1925. His parents were still living at 33 Huskisson Street in 1939 and probate records suggest that Charles Allen died in 1974 at Ince Blundell Convalescent Home, leaving an estate of £45,090.
Allen's home in 1901
Allen's home in 1911
Allen's record of victories
.There is a little I have found beyond a short Wikipedia entry and details of his service on The Aerodrome website
© Liverpool Footprints