 Also, he was the last chief of staff with a bomber background; all subsequent chiefs of staff except General Norton Schwartz have been fighter pilots, and this trend is reflected by the Service's weapon budgets, which devote most funding to fighters rather than bombers.Following his retirement from the Air Force in 1982, Allen became the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), during part of the Voyager Program (space probes launched in 1977), and he served as the Director of the JPL until 1990.Allen was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations.