Editing Gubby Allen (section)

===War service===
Allen's regiment was part of the [[Royal Artillery]]; he quickly became involved with [[Anti-Aircraft Command]] and began to associate with [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) officers.<ref>Swanton, pp. 214–16.</ref> In 1940, he was appointed as an Anti-Aircraft (AA) liaison officer to [[RAF Hawkinge]], part of an initiative to share intelligence on German AA operations with [[bomber]] groups; these posts were controlled by a branch of Military Intelligence, [[MI14]]E.<ref>Swanton, pp. 216–17.</ref> Later that year, Allen's brother Geoffrey was killed fighting in France.<ref>Swanton, pp. 218–19.</ref>

In June 1940, Allen was appointed as a [[Anti-aircraft warfare|flak]] liaison officer to [[No. 5 Group RAF|Five Group]], an [[RAF Bomber Command]] group responsible for distributing intelligence on German air defences collated by MI14 to bomber stations. Through this position, Allen became friends with [[Arthur Harris|Arthur "Bomber" Harris]], who commanded Five Group at the time. As part of his work there, Allen accompanied one bombing mission to the [[Ruhr]], to gain first hand experience of AA defences.<ref>Swanton, p. 220.</ref> In December, Allen was appointed to lead the MI14E section which collated AA intelligence; aside from appointing flak liaison officers, Allen received sensitive intelligence data from a variety of sources on German air defences.<ref>Swanton, pp. 221–22.</ref> He remained in this position for the rest of the war, being promoted to [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]] when MI14E became [[MI15]]. Throughout the war, he also found time to play regular charity cricket matches.<ref>Swanton, pp. 223–29.</ref> Allen left the army in July 1945.<ref>Swanton, p. 228.</ref>