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Contact Info
Home Town Rice Lake, Wisc.
Last Address Weems, VA Interment in Arlington National Cemetery Arlington; however, he also has a marker at: Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Weems in Lancaster County, Virginia.
Date of Passing May 24, 2009
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Vice Admiral Richard C. "Sweetpea" Allen, United States Navy (Retired), 69, of Weems, VA transferred to eternal life on May 24, 2009. A native of Wisconsin, he entered naval service in 1959 as a Naval Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD). He served as a carrier based A4 Skyhawk and A6 Intruder jet pilot until 1971 when deteriorating eyesight forced re-designation as a Naval Flight Officer and transition to bombardier navigator in the Intruder. He saw Vietnam combat service in 67/68, served in 5 aviation squadrons, several staff assignments, and six commands including: VA-85; Carrier Air Wing Six (CVW-6); USS Detroit (AOE-4); USS America (CV-66); Carrier Group Six (CCG-6); and Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He was the first Naval Flight Officer to serve as a Carrier Air Wing Commander.
During operational assignments, he participated in a number of crisis responses and combat operations. They included the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Vietnam War (1967-68), Cyprus Conflict (1973), Libya Gulf of Sidra Operations (1981), Lebanon operations (1983), Libya combat operations (1986), and Caribbean counter drug operations (1990).
Awards included the Distinguished Service Medal (x2), Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (x3), Distinguished Flying Cross (x2), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (x2), Air Medal (2 individual and seven strike flight awards), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, Navy Achievement Medal with Combat V, National Defense Medal, Armed Forced Expeditionary Medal, Vietnamese Service Medal with 3 bronze stars, and several other campaign and unit awards.
He worked in the corporate world until 1998, was President of the Association of Naval Aviation until 2001, then worked as a private consultant for companies supporting Department of Defense programs. Moving to Northern Neck in 1998, he was President of the Northern Neck Military Officers Association of America (NNMOAA) in 05-06. He was an elder at Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Weems, Va.
He attended Stout State College in Wisconsin for two years prior to joining the Navy, received a BS degree in Engineering Science from Naval Postgraduate School in 1971, and had graduate study in Computer Systems Management. He was also a graduate of Flag Officer Capstone training at National Defense University.
He is survived by his wife Peggy (mn: Margaret Fricks Hall of Marietta, GA) of 45 years of Weems; daughter Laura Hall of Weems; sisters Barbara Frey and husband Ernie of San Bernardino, Cal.; Kathy May of San Bernardino, Cal.; Marilyn Jackson of Highland, Cal.; and brothers Everett Allen Jr. of Phoenix, Arizona; and Robert Allen and wife Temmi of Coon Rapids, Minn.
A service of celebration was held 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27 at Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church with Rev. W. Clay Macaulay officiating. Funeral services will be held 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 9 at Fort Myers Chapel with interment in Arlington National Cemetery Arlington with Full Military Honors.
There is also a Family Grave Marker at Campbell Memorial Presbyterian Church Cemetery, at Weems in Lancaster County, Virginia.
Description On the morning of 19 August, after having diverted a number of Libyan "mock" attacks on the battle group the previous day, two F-14s from VF-41 "Black Aces", Fast Eagle 102 (CDR Henry 'Hank' Kleemann/LT David 'DJ' Venlet) (flying BuNo 160403) and Fast Eagle 107 (LT Lawrence 'Music' Muczynski/LTJG James 'Luca' Anderson) (in BuNo 160390), were flying combat air patrol (CAP), ostensibly to cover aircraft engaged in a missile exercise. However, U.S. Navy Commander Thompson S. Sanders wrote in Air & Space/Smithsonian that his S-3A Viking's mission was the real precursor to this incident. Sanders was ordered to fly his Viking in a racetrack orbit inside Qaddafi's claimed zone but outside the internationally recognized 12-mile territorial water limit to try to provoke the Libyans to react. An E-2C Hawkeye alerted Sanders that two Sukhoi Su-22 fighters had taken off from Ghurdabiyah Air Base near the city of Sirte.
The Hawkeye directed the F-14s to intercept while Sanders dove to an altitude of 500 feet and flew north to evade the Libyan aircraft, an experience Sanders found stressful because the S-3A was not equipped with a threat warning receiver, nor with any countermeasures, a deficiency later remedied on the S-3B.
The two F-14s set up for an intercept as the contacts headed north towards them. Only a few seconds before the crossing, at an estimated distance of 300 m, one of the Libyans fired an AA-2 "Atoll" at one of the F-14s, which missed. Then the two Sukhois split as they flew past the Americans; the leader turning to the northwest and the wingman turning southeast in the direction of the Libyan coast. The Tomcats evaded the missile and were cleared to return fire by their rules of engagement, which mandated self-defense on the initiation of hostile action. The Tomcats turned hard port and came behind the Libyan jets. The Americans fired AIM-9L Sidewinders; the first kill is credited to Fast Eagle 102, the second to Fast Eagle 107. Both Libyan pilots ejected.
Prior to the ejections, a U.S. electronic surveillance plane monitoring the event recorded the lead Libyan pilot report to his ground controller that he had fired a missile at one of the U.S. fighters and gave no indication that the missile shot was unintended. The official United States Navy report states that both Libyan pilots ejected and were safely recovered, but in the official audio recording of the incident taken from USS Biddle, one of the F-14 pilots states that he saw a Libyan pilot eject, but his parachute failed to open.
Less than an hour later, while the Libyans were conducting a search-and-rescue operation of their downed pilots, two fully armed MiG-25s entered the airspace over the Gulf and headed towards the U.S. carriers at Mach 1.5 and conducted a mock attack in the direction of USS Nimitz. Two VF-41 Tomcats headed towards the Libyans, which then turned around. The Tomcats turned home, but had to turn around again when the Libyans headed towards the U.S. carriers once more. After being tracked by the F-14s' radars, the MiGs finally headed home. One more Libyan formation ventured out into the Gulf towards the U.S. forces later that day. Fast Eagle 102 (BuNo 160403) is presently stored at the Commemorative Air Force headquarters in Midland, Texas awaiting restoration. Fast Eagle 107 was destroyed in an accident on 25 October 1994.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1981
To Month/Year
August / 1981
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories During operational assignments, he participated in a number of crisis responses and combat operations. They included the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Vietnam War (1967-68), Cyprus Conflict (1973), Libya Gulf of Sidra Operations (1981), Lebanon operations (1983), Libya combat operations (1986), and Caribbean counter drug operations (1990).
