Lee Archer (pilot) - World War II

World War II

Archer is considered by some as the first and—as of 2010—only black U.S. pilot to earn an "ace" designation, for shooting down at least five enemy aircraft, but that claim is not true. Documents show that Archer claimed to have shot down four enemy aircraft during World War II, and he earned full credit for all his four claims. He did not share any aerial victories with another pilot, and none of his aerial victory credits was ever reduced or taken away. He also destroyed six aircraft on the ground during a strafing mission in August 1944, as well as several locomotives, motor transports and barges.

While flying with the 302nd Fighter Squadron, as a combat pilot, nicknamed "Buddy", Archer flew 169 combat missions in the European Theatre of World War II, flying the Bell P-39 Airacobra, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. Flying a P-51C fighter with the distinctive red tail of the 332nd Fighter Group, known collectively as the "Tuskegee Airmen", he scored his first victory, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 on July 18, 1944 over Memmingen, Germany.

Archer is best remembered for his exploits of October 12, 1944. In the midst of a furious series of dogfights over German-occupied Hungary, he shot down three Hungarian Bf 109s over Lake Balaton, Hungary, in engagements that spanned only 10 minutes.

The claim that Lee Archer scored, in addition to his awarded victory on July 18, 1944, an additional victory or half a victory that day is false. Archer claimed and was awarded a credit on July 18, 1944, according to the group history and Fifteenth Air Force orders, and did not share an additional victory with anyone else. In fact, Freddie Hutchins, with whom he is sometimes said to have shared the credit, did not earn an aerial victory credit or a half aerial victory on July 18, 1944. No other pilot in Archer's squadron or group earned a half credit that day. The July 1944 history of the 332nd Fighter Group lists all claims for the month, and Archer is listed with one, on July 18, 1944, and he received credit for that claim. In October 1944, Archer shot down an additional three aircraft,and for each of those claims he was awarded a whole credit, making his World War II total 4. Two other Tuskegee Airmen also shot down a total of four aircraft during World War II.

When Archer returned home in 1945, a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, he found that nothing seemed to have changed in American society. "I flew 169 combat missions when most pilots were flying 50," Archer told the Chicago Tribune in 2004. "When I came back to the U.S. and down that gangplank, there was a sign at the bottom: ′Colored Troops to the Right, White Troops to the Left′."

Archer remained in the armed forces for a career as the U.S. Army Air Forces transitioned into the present day U.S. Air Force in 1947. He later flew missions during the Korean War, became a diplomatic officer at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and then became the headquarters chief of the U.S. Air Force Southern Command in Panama, eventually retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1970.