June 6, 2019, marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day—the Allied invasion of Normandy. The successful invasion marked the turning point in the Second World War.
Leonard Ralph Allman was born in Toronto on March 10, 1919, one of six children of Ephraim and Annie Allman. The family moved to the United States and eventually settled in Schenectady, New York. However, shortly after Canada entered the war in September 1939, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and was trained as an airframe mechanic.
In August 1940 he was stationed at Dunnsville, Ontario, working on Harvard and Yale aircraft belonging to No. 6 Service Flying Training School (SFTS). He and a good friend, almost on a lark, decided to obtain their private pilots licenses. Over the course of the next several months, he spent a fair chunk of his salary as a leading aircraftman (LAC) at nearby Mount Hope, learning to fly on Tiger Moths. It was during flight school that he learned that his brother, Franklin, had been killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps.
Freshly minted private pilot's license in hand, Allman presented himself to the station commander and requested to be re-mustered to aircrew. After a stint at the Initial Training School in Toronto, he completed his basic flight instruction at No. 10 Elementary Flying Training School at Hamilton and obtained his wings at No. 13 SFTS, St. Hubert, Quebec, on August 28, 1942. After a short stint at No. 31 General Reconnaissance…
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