idea directly responsible for Boeing being in position to take the leadership in the development of large swept-wing jets. In 1940, Lockheed built a wind tunnel with the same test section size and speed capability as the University of Washington's wind tunnel. Boeing, realizing they needed a dedicated, in-house wind tunnel, copied Lockheed's design. Theodore von Kármán intervened and recommended the Boeing wind tunnel be designed for airspeeds near the speed of sound. Allen argued for such a wind tunnel and received authorization to build a tunnel, despite the cost estimate of $1 million. Having a wind tunnel (the Boeing Transonic Wind Tunnel) with this capability was directly responsible for Boeing being able to create such designs as the B-47 Stratojet and the 367-80. B-29 Superfortress crash As the United States became involved in World War II, Boeing was awarded a contract to build one of the most technologically advanced airplanes of the war, the B-29 Superfortress. On 21 September 1942, Allen took the first XB-29 on its initial flight and continued as the program's chief pilot. The second prototype first flew on 30 December 1942, this flight being terminated due to a serious engine fire. On 18 February 1943 the second prototype also experienced an engine fire, which was extinguished, but a second fire erupted. Two crewmen bailed out as the plane narrowly missed downtown Seattle skyscrapers on its approach to Boeing Field, but their parachutes did not deploy in time and they were killed. The aircraft crashed into the Frye Packing Plant just short of the runway, Allen, eight other crewmen and 19 workers in the meat-processing factory were killed. Legacy On 23 April 1946, three years after Eddie Allen's death in the crash of XB-29, he was posthumously awarded the Air Medal — an honor rarely bestowed upon a civilian — by direction of the President of the United States. Eddie Allen's contributions were recognized with some of aviation's greatest awards, including the very first Octave Chanute Award in 1939. On 17 December 1942, he presented the prestigious Wright Brothers lecture, "Flight Testing for Performance and Stability." He was posthumously awarded the Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1943, the citation for which read: "For major contributions to aeronautics leading to important advances in airplane design, flight research, and airline operation; particularly for the presentation of new methods for operational control and for the development of scientific and systematic