Another Tuskegee Airman is Gone

[Devildog73]

Retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Lee A. Archer, a decorated member of the Tuskegee Airmen, has died. He was 90.
His son, Roy Archer, says his father died in a Manhattan hospital Wednesday night. The cause of death was not immediately determined.
Archer was an ace pilot in America's first black fighter group in World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen fought with distinction but faced segregation when they returned home. The group was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 from President George W. Bush.
After serving in the military, Archer, of New Rochelle, N.Y., joined General Foods Corp. in the early 1970s and became a corporate vice president.
Archer was among the Tuskegee Airmen who attended President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.
Funeral services have yet to be announced.

[Rockster234]

Interesting statistics........

[OBIO]

RIP Colonel Archer. Thank you for so bravely facing the enemy..in the air against the Germans, and on the ground against racism and segregation.

Only 12 air to air kills....that doesn't seem right. On one episode of Dog Fights, one of the segments counted for 12 kills...one pilot had 3 confirmed kills during that one escort mission. Archer had 5 by himself...maybe 6. There were very few Tuskegee Airmen who made ACE, simply because they remembered their primary mission...to protect the bombers at all cost...and the pilots did not chase after the enemy....once they had broken the attack on the bomber stream, they stayed put and maintained coverage on the stream. But 12 air to air kills for the entire Tuskegee Airmen seems way low.

Just did a quick search...112 air victories.

http://www.tuskegeeairmen.org/uploads/AerialVictories.pdf

OBIO

[Smashing Time]

thnx for the heads up.
Got his autograph a couple years ago at GML 2007.

:kilroy:

[Devildog73]

By the end of the war, the Tuskegee Airmen were credited with 109 Luftwaffe aircraft shot down,[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen#cite_note-kills-8) the German-operated Italian destroyer TA-23 sunk by machine-gun fire, and destruction of numerous fuel dumps, trucks and trains. The squadrons of the 332nd FG flew more than 15,000 sorties on 1,500 missions. The unit received recognition through official channels and was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Unit_Citation_(US)) (DUC) for a mission flown March 24, 1945, escorting B-17s to bomb the Daimler-Benz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler-Benz) tank factory at Berlin, Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin,_Germany). During the action its pilots were credited with destroying three Me-262 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me-262) jets of the Luftwaffe's all-jet Jagdgeschwader 7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagdgeschwader_7) in aerial combat that day, despite the American unit initially claiming 11 Me 262s on that particular mission.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen#cite_note-Caldwell_and_Muller_p._276-9) However on examining German records, JG 7 records just four Me 262s were lost and all of the pilots survived.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen#cite_note-Caldwell_and_Muller_p._276-9) In return the 463rd Bomb Group, one of the many B-17 groups the 332nd were escorting, lost two bombers.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen#cite_note-Caldwell_and_Muller_p._276-9) The 332nd themselves lost three P-51s during the mission.[10] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen#cite_note-Caldwell_and_Muller_p._276-9) The bombers also made substantial claims, making it impossible to tell which units were responsible for those individual four kills. The 99th Fighter Squadron in addition received two DUCs, the second after its assignment to the 332nd FG.[11] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen#cite_note-duc-10) The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded several Silver Stars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Star_Medal), 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinguished_Flying_Cross_(USA)), 8 Purple Hearts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart), 14 Bronze Stars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Star_Medal) and 744 Air Medals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Medal).

[tonybones2112]

I salute Lee and all the TA. Their skill as soldiers and their mission accomplishments as a unit stood and faced the Nazism they found at home that they fought against in Europe.

Hoorah Lee.

Tony Bones