Rocky River -- Donald Allen, one of the last of the "nose art" artists who sent World War II airmen aloft on wings of whimsy, died Aug. 15 at age 93.
Allen, of Rocky River, had served as a crew chief with the 4th Fighter Group, 334th Fighter Squadron, in England during the war.
As a sideline to his usual duties, he was commissioned by fighter pilots to paint fanciful depictions of their wives, girlfriends, favorite cartoon characters or other subjects on their planes.
So a Golden Gloves champ from Missouri got a boxing mule painted on his plane, a pilot from Idaho flew the “Boise Bee,” and so on.
The practice, common throughout the Army Air Forces, became known as "nose art" due to the location of these designs near the front of the aircraft.
Allen was a Cleveland native and 1941 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art.
He once described his nose-art pastime as a creative break from his usual routine of readying fighters for combat.
He avoided depictions of nude women in his designs, unlike other nose-art painters, opting instead for sometimes daring but always discreet images.
“I grew up an Eagle scout and I guess something in that indoctrinated me to have a little propriety,” he once quipped.
Allen painted more than 50 designs, primarily on P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang fighters.
Reproductions of that work are displayed at the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina, where a street was named for him last year.
During the dedication ceremony Allen and his artistic efforts were recalled and praised -- "Amidst the war, sacrifice and death, Don's work lifted the morale and inspired pride and inspiration throughout three squadrons."
Donald Allen is shown with a reproduction of one of his of World War II nose art designs at an exhibition of his work in 2005.
Allen also was remembered for volunteering as a waist gunner on a B-17 during a shuttle of bombers from England to Italy to Russia in 1944. He made the trip so he could service aircraft at each stop along the way, and was later awarded the Air Medal for his role in the mission.
He was featured earlier this year in a documentary, "Nose Art and Pin-Ups," created by British filmmaker Gail Downey, who came to Northeast Ohio to interview Allen.
Downey recently recalled, “Don was extremely talented, but so modest. His main concern was that, as crew chief, he had a very important job to do in keeping the aircraft in top condition, making them as safe as possible for the pilot.
“What a lovely, lovely man,” she added. “He will be much missed.”
After the war, Allen worked as a commercial illustrator with Ad Art Studio in Cleveland before retiring in 1995.
He and his wife Betty (now deceased), raised a son, Craig, and daughter, Lynn.
He also served as a scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America, which is how a fellow scoutmaster, George Qua, remembers him best.
“He was an all-around, absolutely wonderful guy,” Qua said. “He was a great soldier, a great veteran and one heck of a scoutmaster. I’ll miss him.”