Allen Dotson Steele was born in Statesville, North Carolina in 1914. After attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he developed an interest in flying and made his first flight in March 1937. He soloed in April of that year and received his private license in January 1938. By 1940, he had received both his instrument rating and commercial rating. Joining Pennsylvania Central Airlines as a pilot in 1941, he was a copilot on the DC3 and Boeing 247D. By 1944, he was a captain for PCA and was flying for the Air Transport Command. For the ATC, he flew high priority cargo and taught in the PCA flight school in Roanoke, Virginia, which trained over 1000 pilots. He remained with the airline for 33 years, as PCA changed its name to Capital Airlines and then merged with United Airlines. He retired in 1974 after captaining such aircraft as the DC3, DC4, Vickers Viscount, Sud Caravelle, B727-100, and B727-200.