Many beyond the immediate Dassault Falcon Jet family mourned the April 25 passing of the company’s long-serving chief pilot and director of aviation, G. Edison Allen. The Georgia-born pilot–known to all as Ed–gave Dassault 30 years of his life and made numerous friends and admirers along the way.

Allen started his flying with the U.S. Air Force before joining the Pan American World Airways roster. Pan Am’s joint venture with French manufacturer Dassault provided his springboard into business aviation, after which there was no looking back. He was largely responsible for building Dassault’s own corporate flight department and for providing the company with a highly accomplished flight demonstration operation with which to showcase its burgeoning line of Falcons.

In the course of his career, Allen held no fewer than 15 world speed records in various Falcon types and logged more than 14,000 hr as PIC.